Red Alert
by risefromgrace16
Summary: At Resurgam, the people often tend to those who are afflicted. But what to do when you, the doctor, are the victim? Chapter 6: "...Why do they enjoy hurting many others only to profit for themselves? Why can't they all just die?- Ah!"
1. Welcoming Committee

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Trauma Center/Team, it belongs to Atlus. Since I don't, I just have to resort to the next best thing...writing fanfiction. However, the character Elisabeth "Lisbeth" O'Mara belongs to me.

**Author's Note:** Hello, I am risefromgrace16. While I'm not a novice fanfiction writer, this is my first time writing in this category. As of now, I currently own the first two Trauma Center games for the DS and Trauma Team. So far, I'm LOVIN' IT!...*sigh* But enough of my rambling, go on doing what you were supposed to be doing in the first place and start reading the story.

**9/1/10 Update: **Scene breaks have returned, so some editing is in order.

* * *

_Red... _

_Red is such a neutral color. It decorates a wide variety of objects. Ribbons, flowers, paintings...blood. Some people love the very sight, but most want nothing to do with it. To me, it is my most loved color and most hated color. This would probably occur because of my past experiences with it. They enriched me and traumatized me. _

_Red is most likely the whole reason why I'm here now, in America, becoming more prominent in my profession: surgery. _

_Yes, I'm a surgeon, which means I deal with red a lot most of the time. On some days, I'm excited to continue doing what I love most, but at times, I just want to die right there on the spot just from seeing it so much. But either way, I finish up operations just fine, doing what I have to do. _

_But most importantly, red...is what caused me to do the unthinkable... _

* * *

"_**Mother? Why are you up there?...Mother?...MOTHER!" **_

"_**Don't worry, you and your brother can stay here with the rest of us. They are just like you, alone, afraid, looking for a new home..." **_

"_**I...I don't want you to just up and try to be the best now...I like you just the way you are right now."**_

"_**Will you all SHUT UP? We're too far from the mainland for the ambulance to get here in time! Marcus, take care of the outside lacerations and get some papier mache for the splint. Everyone, get some water, rubbing alcohol, a cloth, a sewing needle, the kitchen knife, and the tongs. It's gonna take some time before we see her get up, smile and do something dumb again..." **_

"_**Don't worry Lisbeth, keep working on our promise. When the time comes, I'll be sure to see you again." **_

"_**Amazing! It's another seamless operation! Only the best from..." **_

"_**Such lovely flowers...what species are they though?"**_

* * *

"Dr. O'Mara? Are you daydreaming again?"

"Mm? Oh, it's nothing, just thinking back on some things..."

The addressed Elisabeth O'Mara was currently on board an FBI chopper. After landing in Stanton from Cambrige with her mentor, they had escorted them out to an isolated helipad in order to arrive at their destination undeterred. The location? Resurgam First Care located within the small town of Portland, Maryland. Having been in flight only a few times in her life, she didn't really mind the depth of heights, she actually enjoyed the rush of flying through the air in a metal shell. Flying at low altitude with 3 to 4 foreign agents and a partial convict? Not so much.

As a famous surgeon back in the United Kingdom, Dr. O'Mara had been called "The Pinnacle of Accuracy" and "The Dutchess of Dexterity" due to her quick and exact actions on and off protocol. If something in the operation was hindered, she would be able to think up a new way to approach the problem. Amongst the panic in the OR, she would be the only one calm enough to focus on the core of the operation.

Her rise to fame was at the same time that the dreaded epidemic of the Rosalia Virus had ended. One of the top surgeons at Resurgam was an on/off man, so they were looking for a replacement. Luckily, they had heard of Dr. O'Mara and her successful cases and decided to recruit her after a few tests were run.

Enter CR-SO1, Resurgam's previous top surgeon. In order to begin working there, Elisabeth had to get a solid recommendation from him. To do that, she had to perform a few operations under his watchful eye. At times, she admitted to herself that she was nervous after hearing about this, but then she reminded herself that this was a wonderful opportunity to become more prominent in the world of medicine, and as such, should be more confident in order to land the position without a hitch.

And she did.

However, after learning that he was actually a prisoner working off a 250 year sentence from the FBI, she became a little more skittish around him, aside from the fact that he must be about...4, 5 years her junior. The fact that his officers were watching them from an old security post outside of Elisabeth's workplace only reinforced her fears. Because he didn't exactly have a name and was considered her superior and occasional teacher, she referred to him as either "Sir" or "Teacher".

Moving back to the present, the 31 year old surgeon became aware of a dove that had made it's way into the chopper, frightening some of the occupants. Elisabeth, though, smiled and held out two of her fingers towards the equally scared dove.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" one of the agents asked.

Continuing to coax the bird onto her fingers, it soon calmed down and allowed her to put both hands around it. The panicked agents then gaped at her. "Do you see the difference in interaction?" she asked them. "Whilst you spent your time panicking, exaggerating and trying to flashily plan ahead, I happened to take it lightly and and took care of it a little at a time. _That _is one of the secrets of surgery and of life, to take in account how urgently you have to solve a problem and use that to your advantage. If you keep fidgiting about like that, you're going to make a mockery of your country someday."

After hearing that, most of the agents dropped their heads in shame, beginning to contemplate her words. Sighing, Elisabeth then turned to her temporary superior. "Agent Holden, is America usually like this? Having to...how you say...'make a mountain of molehills' both big and small?"

Having to learn this later, Ian Holden was the one in charge of keeping CR-SO1 in line, a kind of superior in a way, so Elisabeth took this as silently saying that for now, he was the primary commandeer. Looking back at the oddly golden eyed woman, he replied "Unfortunately...most of the time, yes. But these men are still rookies, so take it easy on them, alright?"

Realizing how caustic she actually was, Elisabeth adjusted her glasses a bit and sat straighter in her seat. "Of course..." If there was one thing she didn't like, it was going too far without knowing.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see her mentor with a somewhat sympathetic look. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You do well enough just operating, it's just working with your speech mannerisms a little better, especially with patients."

Knowing that she only had to work on that one little thing, Elisabeth's soft smile returned to her face. "Thank you, Teacher."

All of a sudden, upon looking at the dove again, naturally calm before, began to struggle in an attempt to hurt Elisabeth and succeded, deeply scratching her cheek.

"AGH! Bloody 'ell..."

Wincing in pain, she quickly let go of the dove, who flew out the chopper.

As soon as it flew out, the agents, Holden included, started to scramble to help her, but she immediately put her hand in the "stop" motion and told them "I don't need any help. All I need is some alcohol and a bandage, that's it...I'm fine, really!"

Almost immediately, the bandage and cotton, damp with rubbing alcohol, were presented to her. As she began to swab the scratch, the pilot yelled over his shoulder "We're about to land on Resurgam!"

* * *

Looking down at the helipad, Elisabeth and the others could see Resurgam's personal chopper along with two figures near the staircase leading into the building. One of them yelled out "About damn time you got here!"

Upon landing, Elisabeth could only identify one of the two individuals. She recognized the older woman with her dark magenta hair in a bun as Esha Patel, the chief manager at Resurgam. However, the younger woman in the yellow and green jacket with a bob cut didn't strike her as familiar.

"Hello, Chief." she began, sticking out her arm for an introductory handshake.

Chief Patel returned the handshake eagerly. "Likewise, Doctor O'Mara! I hope that you're able to work here as well as in England!"

"Thank you very much, but outside of operations, can you call me Lisbeth? I don't really like my given name, it sounds so...uptight."

"Alright then, Lisbeth...Huh, sounds catchy! By the way...what happened to your cheek?"

"Oh! Uhm...I fell. That's it."

"I see...well, I'm was bound to introduce you two sometime, but this is Maria Torres, one of the top members of the First Response team. You'll probably have to see each other often." Patel said, gesturing to the other woman, who was putting her arm out as well.

Letting her soft smile grace her face again, Lisbeth put her hand in Maria's, only to have it tightly squeezed and her own arm being pumped up and down rapidly. "Nice to meet you too! No worries about getting lost around here, I'll be sure to show you around when I get the time." Peeking over her shoulder to CR-SO1, she added "And let me know if this one's going too hard on you."

"Hey, now..." he murmured, partially dejected "It wasn't so bad when I was here...Aside from the population of America being nearly decimated."

"_Aside _from that? That was pretty much most of the time you were here!"

Re-adjusting her glasses, Lisbeth saw that Maria and CR-SO1 began talking closely amongst each other. It figures, they _did_ work together, after all. Soon, everyone else except her started walking down Memory Lane. She quietly stated "I'll just look over here now..."

Turning to look at the skyline, she couldn't help but marvel at the sight of the small town, not that she wasn't familiar to the setting already, but at the possible candidates of people she might be responsible for. Unfolding and putting on her surgical coat, she thought to herself _**Okay, new nation, new setting, new people...I can't screw this up now...Can't let her get to me...It's just like Brother and I promised, to save people's lives no matter what, when, or where... **_

The sudden clamor amonst everyone else stopped almost as soon as Lisbeth made it to the edge of the building. From there, Maria quietly asked "Sorry, but I just wanna know...How old is she?"

"About 31 years, why?" Esha replied.

"Seriously? I thought...well, y'know...she just looks really young, what with her face and height...Doesn't really help that she's only a few years older than me."

"True, true...heck, add her sense of fashion and you'd think she was an intern!"

Lisbeth was able to overhear them and cursed herself on her choice of attire. Underneath her uniformal coat was a red collared halter blouse with a short black tie, clipped with two long red stripes. Along with that were a jet black knee length skirt with lace hemming and matching rose patterned pantyhose. Of course, wearing your "run of the mill" dress shoes didn't help her either. Neither did wearing her wavy, dirty blonde hair in a French braid, a few loose, thick strands framing her face. Hell, she didn't even ask for thin prescription glasses! She really did want to show her maturity more often, it was just that she was drawn to certain articles...

"Hey!" _**  
**_

Lisbeth's deep thoughts were interrupted by a smack to her backside, nothing too serious, but enough to snap her back to reality, and enough to make her lose her balance and fall forward.

"Oh!"

A sudden pull back from her braid righted her personal balance. Almost immediately, she turned around to see Maria with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, but we were supposed to give you this first." She then handed a clipboard to the still aching surgeon.

"What is this?..." Lisbeth skimmed the paper, her eyes widening a bit. "This is a chart...They want me to start right now?"

"Yeah, it's not exactly the most convenient thing for us, but the patient was too stubborn to have it planned for later. But you can handle it, right?"

Lisbeth's face twitched a little, but then calmed down. "Of course, it's not the first time being called into the OR first thing on a work day."

Maria was awed for a bit "Man, you really are experienced!"

"Damn straight!"

All of a sudden, a kind of melody could be heard in the air. Maria, looking at her cellphone, picked it up and answered. "Yeah?...A collision? I'll be there soon, hold on."

Right after that, she began running towards the reserve chopper. "There's been a traffic accident on the 374 Highway, so I'll meet with you later!"

Waving goodbye just as the chopper rose up, Maria yelled "I seriously meant what I said back there! Call me for help!"

Staring at the chopper as it headed northeast, Lisbeth murmured to herself "She's certainly...energetic...and somewhat infectious."

Hearing a sigh from her returning superior, he replied "Usually not _that_ much..."

* * *

Walking down to the OR, Lisbeth, CR-SO1 [coming in as support], and Esha were going over the details of the operation.

"Alright...The name's Sasha Binder. Was complaining of abdominal pain when admitted, diagnosed with a stomach ulcer...Shouldn't that be taken care of with endoscopy?" Lisbeth inquired.

"That's what we thought at first." Esha explained "But when we got to the stomach, it had turned into a massive hole! Even worse was that some stomach acid was flowing out as well. To keep up with that, somehow, more acid was being produced. The camera got burned out as well, so we couldn't find out much anymore after that."

"I see...The stomach mucous must have weakened during this time. Was the patient sick? Taking any drugs?"

"Yeah, we found some nearly ingested pills in there. She said she was sick at the time and needed to take some antibiotics. However, when we analyzed them, they turned out to be under development. She was just some test subject."

"Ugh...Don't people remember using lab rats? Have biologists these days been trying to succeed God? I swear, if I find the person responsible for this, I'll just-OWWW!"

Unwittingly, Lisbeth had just bumped into someone and fell back from the impact. Trying to get back up on her feet, she noticed how seemingly intimidating he was. Standing approximately at 6'5, the man obviously dwarfed the poor 5'4 surgeon. With his black hair up in a sort of pompadour hairstyle, he reminded her of one of those old time gangsters back in England.

Starting to apologize, she also noticed a woman who seemed to have recently appeared on the spot. She looked to be of Asian origins and was wearing...a red furisode [?] with an extravagant embroidered pattern on the hemming of the bottom and sleeves, with a long, pleated dark red skirt. It would be considered graceful unless she was wearing the proper pair of zori instead of long, black boots. Oh, and if she wasn't wearing a surgical coat as well.

The foreign woman extended a hand to help Lisbeth up. Upon getting back on her feet, she couldn't help but notice that she had attracted quite a crowd. A few nurses and assistants sprinkled here and there, but the most noticeable of the new assembly was a man in a beige suit. His dark hair seemed to be in a bit of a mess, and he held tightly in his mouth a worn-out cigarette. Seeing his oddly misshapen shadow, she couldn't help but look at the surrounding ground. From there, she could see a tinier pair of legs behind him, a child maybe? Looking up at his face again, she noticed that he was looking right at her as well, smirking.

Right after seeing that, the regular blush she had on her cheeks soon expanded onto her entire face and neck. If it weren't for the OR being a few paces away, she would have just stood there, frozen on the spot. Clearing her throat, she began "A-as much as I-I'd like to talk to you all...I've got a life to save. I dunno about the rest of you, and I don't want to make assumptions, but I've never lost anyone during my career, so before we start the schoolyard routine, let me work."

Turning to the tall man and the kimono-clad woman she quietly stated "Sorry about that sir, I get too deep into work sometimes, and thank you for helping me up, ma'am." With that, she took long, quick strides into the room, CR-SO1 and Esha in tow.

_**First day here and I already look like a total klutz. Perfect. Just freakin' PERFECT. **_

Left hanging after that, the crowd started talking amongst themselves. "Wow...she's really focused isn't she?" A bespectacled intern asked.

"Indeed, she shares the same ideal the rest of us do, the passion to save lives. From what I have heard about her, she does an incredible job of keeping in mind what she has said. That is honorable in itself." Tomoe replied.

"She certainly seems to be passionate about it, but what do you think Gabe?" Hank asked his longtime friend.

The famed diagnostician took the cigarette out of his mouth, tossed it in the trash and said "I'll admit, she does seem to have the skill and drive...but her way of dealing with people is another story."

Once inside the OR, Lisbeth thought to herself _**...Can't get any worse than this, right? **_

"Good evening, ma'am, I will be your surgeon for today."

* * *

**Ending Notes:** So...was it good? Bad? Idk, I was too into writing to really know for myself. Let me know in your reviews!


	2. Ready Now

**Disclaimer:** Tell me, when was the last time I ever owned Trauma Center or Trauma Team?...Yeah, I thought so...

**Author's Note:** I wanted to wait a few more weeks before I posted a new chapter, but I was so filled up after finding out about this procedure that I need to do this before I even forget. And pleas e review this fic for two main reasons...

1. So that I know working on this isn't gonna be a total waste of time.

2. I see the hits on this story going higher and higher each day [not meaning to brag, but...]

So please review, I don't bite, and I think I could use some helpful criticism. Bleagh, again with my rambling, enjoy the story!

**WARNING!:** Somewhat graphic descriptions of vital infected organs and the procedure on how to take care of those will be present here. If you are sensitive to these kinds of things, then I recommend hitting the back button on the top left corner of the browser...Actually, I don't know whether or not I should hike up the rating because of this...Let me know in your reviews, 'kay?

**9/1/10 Update: **Scene breaks have returned, so some revision is in order.

* * *

After ridding herself of her own thoughts on the potential impression she made, Lisbeth strode over to the patient, Sasha Binder and greeted her in the standard "Good evening, ma'am. I will be your surgeon for today."

Quizzically looking at her, the petite brunette asked "I thought he was supposed to be the surgeon?" whilst pointing to CR-SO1.

"Certain...standards have changed, so he's only the support for now."

"Hmm...I don't like this change." the patient said rather snottily.

_Well, get used to it sister. We all don't get our way in life... _

...Which is what the new surgeon wanted to say, but because she wanted to be known as a mellow person, she bit back her tongue and continued "I assume that you know what we have to do during this operation?"

Sasha sat back and thought for a while before finally saying "I know there's some sort of ulcer in my stomach, but that's it."

Clearing her throat, Lisbeth started "Your ulcer isn't like the normal ones we get rid of in endoscopy. Instead of only bleeding, stomach acid is also leaking out, which is why your lower torso hurts now as well. The camera got burned out while you were being examined, so we don't know anymore from that."

"Huh...so they just sent _you_ here?"

_Tch...patience, Lisbeth... _"Of course. Now lie down so we can get you set up. Sir, is the anesthesia here?"

Dragging the long, thin set of tanks behind him, an oddly familiar looking intern helping out as well, the part-time prisoner managed to breathe out "One...ngh...step ahead of you."

Clasping her hands together for a second, Lisbeth got into her focused mindset and motioned Sasha to lie down on the table. The last thing she heard her say before the mask was fitted onto her was "You'd better not half-ass it, lady."

A grimace forming on her face, Lisbeth barely managed to say "Just breathe deeply and think of happy thoughts..."

_Whatta bitch! _

* * *

"Is the patient anesthetized?"

"Yes Doctor, awaiting your response."

After getting the confirmation to continue with the operation, the patient was knocked out with her vitals currently in the green zone.

"Alright, I'm about to make the incision. Hand me some antibiotic gel and the scalpel so we can start."

Having gotten the proper tools, Lisbeth began by spraying the gel halfway down the abdominal line. Then, reaching for the scalpel, she cleanly cut down the disinfected pathway, leaving an opening into the middle of the digestive tract.

"Hand me the forceps."

Once the skin was carefully pulled back to expose the affected area, Lisbeth could now see the problem fully.

"Oh, God..."

It wasn't just one huge ulcer, it was as if there was one main ulcer, leaking out blood and...from what she could see, some acid was flowing out as well. The other three were a little smaller, although they were hemorrhaging an awful lot.

"Chief...the camera went out at the wrong time. It's not just one ulcer, it's like a colony of some sort! Not only that, there really is stomach acid coming out from there...This was a rare case back home...But I remember there being a special drain used to take out both the blood and acid without the nozzle dissipating, do you happen to have one of those?"

"Well...yes, but not right here. It's in one of the storage rooms on this floor. I'll hurry and get it!"

"Good, you do that. Teacher, let's take care of the smaller ulcers! Get the normal drain and the laser, but make sure the latter's set on low. The stomach membrane can't handle enough as it is."

"Got it! Be steady about this, Elisabeth."

"I know...gotta make sure that this drain doesn't come in contact with the main ulcer, else..."

With caution and some relief in mind, Lisbeth began draining the smaller ulcers of their blood. Putting her hand out once she was done, CR-SO1 gave her the laser. Cauterizing the last of the ulcers until they finally finished bleeding and vanished, she stated "Hemeostasis complete...Huh?"

As soon as the original ulcers were gone, one growing ulcer popped out, then another, and another...

Pretty soon, half of the stomach was taken up by almost twice the amount of full ulcers as before. After that, Ms. Binder's vitals dropped down to 53.

"Huh...I guess that as long as the main ulcer's up and about, more ulcers will just keep popping up...like in a bee colony...Tch, gotta love analogies at this point."

Suddenly, Chief Patel and another nurse stormed in with the special drain.

"Dr. O'Mara, we found what you needed!"

"Thanks, we just hit a dry spot here!"

Taking the drain's nozzle in her hand, Lisbeth began draining the main ulcer of the blood and acid that was leaking out. Once that was finally over with, she drained and cauterized the bare ulcer, along with the remaining ones, yet...the patient's vitals didn't recover.

"Weird...all the ulcers are gone, unless...Sir, give me an ultrasound."

_Ugh, don't tell me... _

Moving the ultrasound around, she finally spotted one large, round shadow close to the middle of the stomach. That shadow was partially surrounded by other similar, smaller shadows.

"It's just as I feared, there's another ulcer taking over the back of the stomach too."

Suddenly, the only thing the group could hear was a long beeping sound...

"Dammit, she's going through cardiac arrest! Start charging the AED!"

Once the mechanical whine began sounding, Lisbeth reached for the pads, but CR-SO1 beat her to it. Before she could even speak, he yelled "Forget about what I'm doing, ready the stabilizer!"

Re-aligning her focus, Lisbeth grabbed the syringe and the green vial of stabilizer off the operating tray. By the time the needle had been filled up, Sasha's vitals had returned to being in the 50's. To be safe, she injected the fluid into the arm in order for her vitals to return to 98.

"Well...that's over with. Elisabeth, let's start-"

"Suturing and taping the cut, already on it."

Before CR could start instructing her, Lisbeth had already finished suturing and taping the entrance wound shut, a melancholy expression on her face.

"It's...it's my fault..."

"What is?"

"That...that the patient nearly died this way..." Sasha was now being prepared for the next phase of the operation, giving the mentor and his semi-pupil some time to chat.

"Hmm...Elisabeth, I want to know why-"

"Why didn't I pay more attention to the patient? I...I mean yes, I just want to help her live normally again, I'm just trying to focus on the real problem, but..."

"...I understand, but you should've-"

"I should've paid more attention to her overall!" Lisbeth exclaimed, nearly kicking the wall in. CR-SO1, Esha, and the assistants nearly stopped what they were doing, looking towards the now bitter surgeon. "I don't get it...I know I have to pay more attention to protocol, but at times when I try to help the patient, I only end up making things worse sometimes..." Sighing, she only beat herself up one last time, saying "...Why is it that I end up looking so goddamn irresponsible sometimes?"

Sensing that it was over with, CR-SO1 walked over to Lisbeth and put a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to turn her head a bit. "I won't assume anything about your past, but I know that you mean well. However, it's no use dwelling on past mistakes. The best thing to do now is-"

"Prepare for the future...Just like Brother said to me..." Lisbeth was now standing straight, heading towards the operating table. "Yes, that's right. Hell, I can learn from past mistakes too, right? Yeah, that's all I need...Thanks for the lecture Teacher, I really needed it at this time."

Staring at her in amazement, CR simply replied "Uhm...Sure, no problem." Meanwhile, he was thinking _This woman's like some sort of android...She's got the skills and passion to operate and can even correct herself if she needs to. There's certainly no surprise that she became the best so fast in England... _

Her focus set once again and a determined smirk pasted on her face, Lisbeth already began making the incision into the other side.

* * *

"...And that's that. Operation complete."

Once that phrase was uttered, the lights went back on and the remainder of people applauded. Removing her gloves, Lisbeth gave them her trademark smile and said "Everyone, you don't have to clap for me. Saving a life is a good enough reward by itself."

Suddenly, she felt one hand on each of her shoulders, one from Esha, the other from CR-SO1.

"Are you kidding me? I knew you were good, but not _this _good! You're amazing!" Esha exclaimed.

"Granted, there are a few touch-ups you need, but you've shown me again that you've got real potential to be one of the best." CR plainly stated.

"Amazing?...Potential?...Heheh, thank you." A light blush crept up onto Lisbeth's cheeks.

Although it was faint, the trio could hear some whispering between two of the assistants, one male, the other female.

"Go on, introduce yourself! It's not like she'll reject you out of the blue!"

"E-Emma! Don't agitate this!"

Turning to the both of them, Esha motioned for them to come meet Lisbeth. The man, dressed in a sky blue sweater and khaki pants, shakily extended his hand. "Uhm...He-Hello...my name is...Darnell Sellers, a m-medical assistant!" He almost spat the last part out. "I've heard of you from back home so...I'm kind of a fan of yours." By now, he was blushing dangerously.

Lisbeth, pitying the man for her recent feelings here, put her arms around the young man. "It's nice to meet you, Darnell. To have a fellow Englishman here in Resurgam comforts me a little, and you seem nice enough, so thank you."

Feeling a sense of euphoria, Darnell simply got out, washed his hands, and left a happy man. Rolling her eyes, the other nurse, clad in a light pink dress and cap, also put out her hand "Don't mind him much, he's just a little shy...and desperate. I'm Emma Wilson, nice to meet you!"

Lost in a sea of "welcomes" and "good lucks", Lisbeth made her way to the nearby sink to wash her hands. However, she had mistakenly turned on the hot water all the way first without checking the knobs. She was blissfully unaware still.

"Hey, is it true that you call french fries 'chips' back in the U.K.?"

"Yup, and potato chips are called 'crisps' too. Now I've just gotta-AUGH!"

Pulling her hands out of the water after a few seconds of exposure, Lisbeth discreetly examined them. The tops of her hands were reddened up to the knuckles and at the sides. Some blistering was present and pain shot up to her elbows, showing that they were second-degree burns.

"Lisbeth, are you alright? Do you need any help with that?" Esha asked.

"Nngh...I'm fine, I've got some ointment for this in my bag, so..." Lisbeth started looking around "Wait, where's the bag?"

"You happen to be looking for this?" a familiar voice asked. The group whirled around to the entrance, finding Agent Holden in the threshold with an over-the-shoulder bag. "You left this on the chopper. I didn't want to bother you while you were operating, you were doing a pretty good job."

"Thank you," Lisbeth said, picking up the bag "but why are you still here?"

"This is one of SO1's operating days, so I have to look after him."

"I see, well thank you again. I've really got to get going now, gotta start moving my things y'know?"

"Alright then, good luck with that! But are you sure you don't need any help with your hands?" Esha inquired.

"I'm-" Lisbeth took a deep breath to brace herself, then continued "gonna be fine. I just need to get a good night's rest. Goodbye."

* * *

As Lisbeth started walking down the halls, the pain becoming more obvious, it became apparent that she had to:

1. Find a bathroom to take care of the burns.

and

2. Quickly find the exit so that she wouldn't raise any more attention.

Luckily, there was a bathroom a few paces ahead of her, so she quickly went in. It was one of those "stall-in-line" bathrooms. Checking underneath the doors for anyone, Lisbeth deemed the area safe and went to the sink in order to cool down the burn. "Okay, firstly, cool the affected area but not the victim..." She held her hands under the cold tap for a good 5 minutes, but the burning sensation still didn't go away. "That's odd, the feeling should've been gone by now, but-UGH!"

Lisbeth's burning pain returned with a vengeance, her arms now throbbing in rhythm with the sensation. "Alright, that didn't go over well. Let's try the ointment..." She started rummaging in the bag, but didn't feel the tube. "What the?...Don't tell me I forgot it!" The contents of her bag were now poured out onto the floor, but still no ointment. "Dammit! There's always gotta be _something!_"

Now she had left the bathroom, sitting down on the floor. Hugging her knees from the inside, tucking her head in, and biting the side of her tongue to keep from making any noise, she thought to herself _So not only am I too irresponsible, but I'm too stubborn for my own good...Why didn't I just get help back there?...Right, because of my stupid goody-two shoes etiquette. Maybe I really **am **too nice for my own good...Either way, I might be out of a good job and possibly a good home...The only thing I should do now is just sit here and wait 'till the place is ghostly enough to sneak in, get some first aid for myself, and sneak back out...Yeah, that's it..._

However, those thoughts were interrupted by the sound of impending footsteps. Lisbeth's breath hitched in her throat, silently hoping that whoever it was wouldn't notice her. Those hopes were dashed as the footsteps stopped and seemingly turned in her direction. A rough, deep, unfamiliar voice asked "Hmm? What's with you?"

* * *

**Ending Notes:** OOOOOOH, CLIFFHANGER!...Then again, you probably know who it is. ; ] In a way, I'm kind of disappointed in myself when it came to the surgical description, I thought it'd be a little longer. But that's my point of view, let me know what you think. Again, thanks for reading!


	3. The Red Thread of Fate Pt1

**Disclaimer:** ...Nope, still don't own the Trauma franchise

**Author's Note:** Aside from action-ish scenes, I feel that writing comedy and somewhat angsty and/or romantic stuff are some of my specialties too. Expect some of that in this chapter. And odd, underlined accents. And relatively unknown facts. Oh, and thanks to **LittleGuyLover **and **Wavebreeze **for reviewing this earlier!

* * *

"Hmm? What's with you?"

Sensing that the voice was talking to her, Lisbeth tried to avoid paying attention to him, thinking that there was someone else in the vicinity, but then he [assuming that the voice belonged to a man] said "Don't think there's anyone else here, it's just you and me. Now what's the problem?"

_Wait...no one else is here now? _Lisbeth thought, _I think I just might be able to get out of this much easier, but... _

Shifting a little in place, she quietly asked "You're not going to tell anyone else, will you?"

"Depends, is it that important?"

"Well...it's my first day here, and I don't want to get called out too early, so yes."

"Alright then, what's wrong?"

Slowly, she pulled out her hands, but stopped once her wrists were visible. She could then hear him sigh. "C'mon lady, I'm a diagnostician. It's my job to find out what's wrong with you."

Hesitating a little, Lisbeth asked again, her tone a little lower "Are you sure there's no one around? Or are you just trying to screw around with me?"

Sighing a little deeper this time, the man answered "Lady, look me in the eye. Do I look like I'm trying to lie?"

_I guess this is the only way to prove honesty in this country..._ Managing a tiny peek upwards, Lisbeth could only find all the more reason to withdraw her form even further. The person who was talking to her was the man who managed to further her embarassment this morning!

Getting a closer look at him, she could see that his hair had a kind of lightly dark shade. His amber eyes had some surrounding circles, suggesting that he either needed a lot of sleep, or needed to cut down on the cigarettes, one of which was recently ignited and held tightly between his fingers while he was talking to her. Add the moderate stubble he had and he'd just give someone the assumption that maybe he was just some slacker that was fired recently.

Taking a closer look at her during that quick glance up, he immediately recognized her. This was Elisabeth O'Mara, that fancy surgeon from the U.K that was supposed to transfer here. She was also the one who managed to bump into Hank and somewhat make a fool of herself a couple of hours ago. [_How you managed to not see that, _he thought to himself, _I'll never understand..._] But she seemed to be awfully dedicated, and she does do her job very well. True, she doesn't work with people that well, but he's bound to give her _**some **_respect at least...

...Some help would be good, too. Whatever she was about to show him was situated on her hands, all he had to do was force them out...or use some of that good ol' Cunningham charm.

"Oh, how I love irony..." the man said half-gleefully, half-caustically, while squatting down to her level.

"Eh?...Is this some oddball humor of yours? I don't really get the joke." Lisbeth murmured.

"Huh...I guess you don't if you're the subject."

"True, true...wait...what'd you just say?"

Apparently, how her sight immediately turned upwards towards him, the way her arms were shaking, and her wrists seemed to be straining from turning into fists, he had just struck a nerve. _Good, good...looks like she's gonna use her hands soon..._

"Well, I mean a **refined and skilled **surgeon like you must have had to know how to treat yourself, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be here right now, sulking and acting like some hormonal teenage girl. I thought that you could take care of yourself, correct?"

Now _this _sent her over the edge. Preparing to attack, Lisbeth growled out "Shut up...I can handle embarrassing myself, I can handle injuring myself...But I WON'T tolerate you demeanin' my skills like that! Get ready 't DIE!"

Her fist already sailing through the air, Lisbeth was just about to make contact with the man's cheekbone, but he grabbed her wrist when it was mere millimeters from him. He then pulled it back some to study it.

Once again, her breath hitched in her throat as he examined her. "Hmm...looks like a second-degree burn, probably by scalding? Hold on..."

Walking in the direction where she came from, Lisbeth began to fear that he was lying to her the whole time and was ready to give him the beatdown of a lifetime if he came with everyone else in the vicinity. However, in a few minutes, he came back alone, shaking an odd canister in his hand.

Taking her hand again, he murmured "Hold still..." and sprayed it on her hand. Whatever it was, it cooled down the burning pain in a few seconds. "This kind of gel," he explained "has a very good amount of aloe vera in it, which can help with burns and other skin irritations. I snuck this out the OR while no one was looking." Seeing the fearful expression on the woman's face, he chuckled a bit and said "Don't worry, the patient didn't have any burns, so they probably wouldn't have noticed anyways. Now pull out your other hand."

"How did you even-" Lisbeth started to ask, but was interrupted.

"Because you were going to pull out both hands before, and your other wrist has some blistering and redness. Now pull it out." His tone became more serious now. Not wanting to get into any more trouble, she pulled out the other hand, allowing him to spray the gel on it.

Looking at it again, he advised "It's not the only thing that's gonna help themheal up all on their own though. Come with me, I've got something else for this." He then held out his hand to help her up. Looking both ways for any witnesses, Lisbeth reluctantly let the man pull her up and followed him down the hallway. She couldn't place her finger on it, but she thought she heard of the man from somewhere...

Getting the courage to speak up, Lisbeth asked "Who are you?"

Turning his head a bit, he answered "Hm? Gabriel Cunningham."

_Cunningham, Cunningham...where do I keep hearing that?_

"And here we are."

"Ah! A-Already?"

As soon as they took a few steps, the two ended up in a messed up portion of the hospital. Well, not really messy, just the room itself. While the rest of the hospital had half-custard, half-orange walls with a lone purple stripe adorning the middle , this room was in a hunter green color scheme. It wasn't just the color that made it seem like that, how the furniture was arranged only added to it. Everything was put together so that it seemed like one huge clump of assorted objects.

Looking in the room a bit, the first thing Lisbeth saw on the left side of the room was an odd looking machine which also prodded at her memories a bit. Next to that machine was a clear desk with a standard computer and office chair. Some small books were on one side of the computer and a lamp on the other. A bulletin board pinned with many different papers was on the wall behind the computer.

On the other side of the room was a cluttered coffee table and a beige couch. Walking inside, she noticed that the coffee table held an open bag of potato chips, a recently made cup of coffee, some files, a tissue box and an extremely filled up ashtray. Looking up and over the couch, she could see a massive bookcase filled with God knows what.

_What a pig... _Lisbeth thought. Not noticing this until she tilted her view downwards, she could see a sleeping child on the couch, clad in a light blue t-shirt and beige shorts. Skimming over his form down to his feet, she could then recognize the child as the same one that was with Gabriel earlier. Taking into account how their hair and build matched, the one possible conclusion was that-

"Cute, isn't he?"

Waking up from her thoughts, the surgeon could see that her healer was rummaging around in a small cabinet near the fridge.

"In an odd sort of way, yes...If you don't mind me asking, is he your-"

"Son? Yeah, he is...His name's Joshua."

Before she could ask anything more of his family, Gabriel immediately got up and walked towards the door. Waving a little towards her direction, he simply said "I've gotta get something else for your burn. Feel free to make yourself cozy."

"Wait, wait! What if he-" Alas, the door was shut before she could even finish. "...wakes up?"

At first, Lisbeth just stood around for a few minutes, but once her legs got sore, she decided to do a little tidying up. Walking over to the coffee table, she started to pick up what was left of the potato chips and rolled up the bag. Picking up the ashtray, she walked over to a nearby rubbish bin and emptied it out, wrinkling her nose at the stench that came wafting out for a while.

After straightening up the files and sipping some of his coffee [_Just 'cause it's his doesn't mean I can't at least have a little bit. He did say "Feel free to make yourself cozy." _Lisbeth thought to herself while drinking], she got bored and decided to investigate for a bit. Of course the first thing she decided to look at was the blue and silver machine in the corner.

Walking over and sitting down in the computer chair, she rolled a little closer to it. It looked like it was just a screen being held up by a large mass of an engine and wires on the bottom. Snapping her fingers, she quietly exclaimed "So **that's **where I remember you! You're one of those Rapid Operating Networked Intelligence terminals **[1]**, aren't you?" Poking the screen a few times, she murmured "I knew a doctor who got assigned one of you. I swear, you could be so annoying most of the time. Whenever I came to visit him, you always had something to say just to tick me off!" Getting no response, she scoffed "Good. At least you're on 'mute'."

Starting to spin in the chair, she added "Heck, you were filled with stuff people already knew! Arnold always did just write all his notes down. He even knew all known diseases by heart! Of course, that was a little nerdy...but if you ask me, the only thing you're good for is lying around like a pile of shi-"

"Good evening, Dr. O'Mara." a finely tuned female voice suddenly greeted, causing Lisbeth to nearly fall out of the chair.

Turning 'round again, she simply started gawking at the robot. It now had a few speakers on either side of it's screen, a tiny camera and antenna at the top, and it showed the standard blue background and circles, showing that it was operational. "Aw **c'mon!** You can talk too?" Lisbeth exclaimed.

"Of course," it replied "I must if I am able to communicate with my partner so well." Looking at the poor woman's newly dishelved appearance, it then stated "Symptoms confirmed: shortness of breath, elevated heart rate, slight wheezing. A possible case of asthma. Recommend intake of beta-2 agonists **[2]** for immediate-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a tic!" Lisbeth started. "First off, how do you even know who I am?"

"By using the entire security network's database and linking up to another unit dispatched in your area, I have been able to gather enough information on the so-called 'new surgeon'."

_Wonderful, they're friends... _the surgeon thought grudgingly to herself. Unaware of her mental predicament, the machine prattled on.

"I know that you are Elisabeth O'Mara, a former resident of Caduceus Europe. I know that you are to be the replacement for Prisoner Number CR-S01. I know that you have a biological brother now named Marcus Kane..."

_Marcus...that selfish bastard... _The Englishwoman was now beginning to tense up.

"I know that you were orphaned at age 8, taken in by a orphanage days after the loss of your mother, and was discharged a decade later. I know that you and your brother seperated in 199-"

"ENOUGH!" Lisbeth yelled, spinning back around, nearly knocking the robot off it's place. Now she seemed more manic than stressed out. "I'd advise 'fer you not t' keep goin'" Her voice had gone down a bit in pitch and her faint accent became more prominent. Her once courteous mannerisms seemed to disappear too, raw feracity taking it's place. Her golden eyes also started to flicker with some odd life..."If 'yer so smart, then you'd know not 't talk anymore. I've already got enough of my past 't cope with..." 

Knowing that she might start attracting attention this way, she began to calm down. Once the fury had dissipated, she quietly stated "Listen, I'm sorry about that. I don't need some immediate biography, I know enough about myself...but, again, 'cause you're so smart, you think you could do me a favor?"

"Of course, Dr. O'Mara."

Leaning forward, she asked "Look at my face. What do you notice?"

"I know that there are signs of fatigue present."

"Good, then you must know what I have to do to get rid of fatigue, right?"

"Lithium salts **[3]**, ciprofloxacin-"

"No." she stated flatly. "Rest. That is all I ever need to feel better. Now would you kindly just sit there and stay quiet while I do so? I can heal faster that way, y'know?"

"Yes, Dr. O'Mara" Like that, the Rapid Operational Networking Intelligence terminal, or RONI, as it was usually called, began to shut off, but then asked "How can I properly sit, though? I have no organic appendages of my own. Furthermore..."

"UGH!" Unable to take anymore of the machine's mannerisms, she looked for the a way to turn the infernal machine off. Noticing that there were some wires connected between the screen and the engine, she pulled out one or two of them. Just like that, it had shut down.

"Whew! Glad that's over with!" Lisbeth then slumped in the chair, content. Suddenly, she heard a slight chuckle. Turning back around, she scanned for any other people in the office, but all she could see was Joshua, who was still asleep.

Upon seeing him again, she couldn't help but truly pay attention and 'awww...' quietly at his still sleeping form. Tiptoe-ing quietly so she wouldn't wake him up, she looked over his form again before murmuring "Honestly, he looks so _adorable!_ It's like the old adage proves: A child who sleeps well grows well."

Ruffling his hair slightly, surprised at how soft and clean it was, she then went back to the chair. "To change the subject, the air's so ...*hyawn*...nice in here, like sweaters..."

Noticing that she was slowly nodding off, Lisbeth whispered to herself "I'll just...rest my eyes for a bit..." and quietly rested her head on the desk.

* * *

**Ending Note:** Alright...I can tell that there's gonna be a heck of a lot of questions about Joshua being here, and about Lisbeth's odd quirks which will be answered...in the next chapter! This is called "Part 1" for a reason, ladies and gents. As a good excuse, this was originally half of a much longer original chapter.

Oh, and before I forget...

**[1] **In one of the Japanese promos for Trauma Team, RONI's acronym is translated fully as written in the chapter.

**[2] **Beta-2 agonists are the main composition of the medicine in asthma pumps.

**[3]** A select amount of lithium salts are mood-stabilizing drugs, primarily used in the treatment of Bipolar II Disorder for hypomania. Sadly, I don't have any legit info about ciprofloxacins...


	4. The Red Thread of Fate Pt2

**Disclaimer:** [insert random disclaimer from the last 3 chapters]

**Author's Note: **Alright, I don't exactly consider this a part 2 moreso than 3/5 of it being small vignettes from during the last chapter. They're a little important and will answer some internal questions from beforehand so enjoy?...I had some other essays/projects to go through, so the quality may be a little downgraded. Cut me some slack, 'kay?

Whoa! This word count...this is way more than I've ever written,_ waaaaay_ past my normal limit of about 2,500-3,300 a chapter. Seems pretty wordy too...Welp, good luck kiddies, you're gonna need it.

_Flashback talk [only for the first two parts featuring this, otherwise any other occasion is just thoughts]. _

Just so you know.

* * *

**Gabriel's P.O.V. **

You must wonder what it's like to be in my line of work. Just listen to the people, read between the lines, run some tests, and find out what's wrong through that. Pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

Once you _really _start listening, then you get to see what people are truly like. Whether their just some goodwill ambassador gone bad or a businessman rushing the exam just to get to their meeting, they're all the same: selfish, ignorant, greedy. Seeing all this everyday almost makes me want to stop helping people and just retire again to that old clinic already.

_Almost. _

Because at times, there's these rare patients who are just kind, understanding, altogether nice or pliable people. Take Joshua for instance. He didn't want people to worry about him out of innocence and courtesy, and when the truth came out, he became a lot more cooperative. Sure he's just a kid, but that's gotta count for something, right?

Then there's this one right now: Elisabeth O'Mara. Out of all the times I've ever seen her in the news and such, she looked like some cold fish. Seriously, in almost every photo I see of her, she's got this sullen look on her face, and when she does smile, it's so small you can barely see it! Looking at her right now, aside from being the European version of Maria at first, she actually seems like the shyest person I've ever met. Probably not adjusted to fame as much...but forget about that.

Right now, we're in my office looking for some gauze to treat some second-degree burns of hers. Stepping in, at the same time quietly sighing in relief that this was one of those rare occasions that RONI didn't immediately turn on when I came in, the first thing I did was check on Joshua. Luckily, he was still napping on the couch. It was summer vacation, so he needed to be watched over. Of course, there was no one around at the time so I had to take him with me, which deemed me as off-duty for half of the day.

I swear, there's something with kids and the heat. One minute, they're rambunctious and full of energy, then once you put them out on a steaming day, they start getting all lethargic and sleepy. I guess that's the case, seeing that it was pretty warm here in the office. Honestly, I didn't really mind at all, it just made my job easier. For now, I deal with raiding the cabinet for supplies. I've already found the tape, but I still can't find the gauze. Sheesh, I could've sworn that there was some in here...

**Step...step... **

"Eh?...Oh."

Turning my head a little, I saw that O'Mara was looking at Joshua, apparently deep in thought. I smiled to myself. Most of the people who see him just openly "awww" at him not matter what, but not this one. Good, at least she knew some manners. However, it looked like the silence was gonna be broken sometime soon, so I snapped her out of it.

"Cute, isn't he?"

"...In an odd sort of way, yes...If you don't mind me asking, is he your-"

"Son? Yeah, he is...His name's Joshua."

At that, I felt some weird sense of euphoria rush through my guts. Getting Joshua back was just recent, so having him called my son again after so many years just felt..._right_.

...And that feeling just went away now that I can't find a freakin' roll of gauze in here!

Walking out, she started to say something, but I just cut her off. "I've gotta go and get something else for your burns. Feel free to make yourself cozy."

"Wait, wait! What if he-"

Too late. I closed the door on her and headed back to the OR. Making my way down the halls, my mind started going back to that day when things just started to pick up a little more...

* * *

**Third-person P.O.V. **

_It was just another regular day at Resurgam, birds were chirping, charts were being filled out, operations were being done, and Gabriel Cunningham spent his work time like he usually did: lying back on the couch and trying to get some sleep. Of course, he couldn't really get that due to his assistant RONI constantly pestering him. _

_"Doctor, you need to check the stomach X-rays of Sasha Binder today." _

_"*sigh*...I know that RONI, but I still need to think some of this over. It **is **for her own good after all and I wouldn't want anything else to happen to her." That last sentence was a lie, of course. The aformentioned patient was a snarky woman who just couldn't help but insult and deride him, yet press him constantly for the results for most of the exam. To be honest, he didn't really give a damn whether or not she lived._

_"I understand the need for consideration, but protocol states that I cannot let you sleep until you finish checking the results." _

_"Ugh, fine!" Getting up and lighting another cigarette, he began to make his way down the hall to the image analysis lab. There, he observed a huge cave-in at the gastric wall that supported his theory. "Yup, with the proof I've got here and from the last exam, she's got gastric ulcers, they look pretty bad too. I'd better call her, hopefully she won't ever have to get on my nerves again." _

**_Dooo...dooo...dooo...[Short A.N.: Yes, that is what I think a dial tone sounds like. Gimme a break.] _**

_"Hmm?...Hello?" _

_"Miss Binder? I've got your prognosis here, do you have the time to meet at my office today?" _

_"Huh, what a coincidence! I'm just in front of the hospital!" _

_"Wh...What were you even-" _

_"I was gonna come and make sure you were working on my case, so I'm happy to know that you weren't slacking off like I thought you were. See you in a few!" _

**_*k-chk* _**

_"The hell? How does she even know- matter of fact -who does she think she is, just barging in and...never mind, as long as she's out of sight afterwards, then she's out of mind."_

**_6 minutes later... _**

_As of now, Gabriel had just finished explaining Miss Binder's little predicament._

_"...So it's just __a simple endoscopic procedure to get rid of the ulcers, which shouldn't take so long. You understand now?" _

_"And right after, I'll be fine?" _

_"Yeah, just a couple days of rest afterwards and you'll be good to go, provided any other complications don't come up soon. (Hopefully...)" _

_"Alrighty then, I guess that just leaves making an appointment." Sasha stood up and extended her hand. "Thank you for all you've done." Gabriel had imitated her and was about to link hands when she suddenly pulled away and started to walk out. "Heh, too slow! You think I'd be friendly with someone I'm probably never gonna see again?...Seriously though, thanks." _

_Simply left hanging, Gabe just stood there for a while until his legs started to cramp, then went back to his couch. "She's certainly a strange one..." he muttered to himself. Done with his work, he lay back and slowly let himself drift off..._

**_Vrrrrm...vrrrrm...vrrrrm..._**

_...Until he felt a vibration in his pants pocket. Reaching into it to see that it was his cell phone letting him know of some unknown caller, he grimaced. "I've had enough of her when she was already here...can't she just be happy with what she's got?" _

_Flipping open his phone and practically yelling into the receiver, he answered "Listen lady, my results are final and backed with good evidence. If you don't like it, then you can take your business to some other hospital!" _

_"Hmph...It's certainly nice to hear from you again, Gabe." A light and feminine voice laced with some contempt answered._

_Gabriel's breath caught in his throat. Even if 50 years passed, he could still remember to whom that voice belonged to. "...Lisa?" _

_"I can tell that things aren't going so well on your half. Are you OK?" _

_"Tch...I'm fine, it's just this pushy patient...It's like one minute she respects me, then the next she just loves to get on my case! Is she PMS-ing or something?" _

_"...You really think the reason why women seem to shift moods so quickly is because they're on their period? You should know better than that, I mean, you're a doctor for God's sake!" _

_"Wait, no! It's just- AGGGH!" Great, it was just two weeks after officially splitting with his wife, and he just so happens to spit out the wrong words at the wrong time. In the meantime, Lisa was laughing to herself for catching her ex-husband's slip of the tongue when he was usually ready with some sarcastic comment and able to keep such things like that to himself. _

_"As much as I'd like to keep hearing this, I've got a huge favor to ask you." _

_"Hmm? Well, you've already got custody, alimony, et cetera. What is it now?" _

_"Before I say anything, are you on stable ground right now?" _

_"Um...sure?" _

_"...I need you to take custody of Joshua for a while." _

_Now this Gabe wasn't fully prepared for. The total shock of this surpassed even that of a sucker-punch to the gut by Maria, and even that was traumatizing enough on it's own. Tightening his jaws in surprise, he caused the still burning residue of his cigarette to shoot onto his tongue. That not only burned the inside of his mouth a bit, the surprise of it overall made him flinch and toss himself onto the floor. He could still hear Lisa from a few centimeters trying to convince him. "Please, just try to let me explain." _

_Trying to steady his breathing, he quietly asked "...But why?" _

_"Well, you know that I'm still working over at Cameron Enterprises, right? A couple of days ago, I got promoted and they're transferring me over to a branch in Italy for my first actual job. Because of that, Joshua has to be approved for an early passport, but the statement I sent over to customs wasn't approved. It doesn't help that the next option is signatures from both married parents either. I've already called up all the family and friends I have and they don't have the time or space to take him in...It'll take only a couple of months and-" _

_"Months? You really think I can take care of a boy who barely even knows who I really am and just suddenly get all excited and happy and...and..." _

_Gabriel stopped there and took some moments to think. True, his own son didn't know him by any other means aside from being his last doctor, but maybe this was a some sort of second chance. Maybe this was fate or karma or whatever some deity was giving him to try and make amends with Joshua and himself. His final decision was made: if he was going to go at least one notch up from being the worst father in the world, then he'd have to start taking risks, even if they might bite him in the butt later on in life. _

_"You realize you're going to have to tell him at some point, right? He** is** your son after-" _

_"Alright, when do you want to meet at the courthouse?" _

_"R-really? You're serious?" _

_"Of course. What, did you think otherwise? You sound pretty shocked." _

_"No, not at all. It's just...I spent about half of the day trying to figure out how to convince you and well...you know." _

_"After what happened during his diagnosis, I figured out that I want to make him happy as a dad and just be there for him. You just took me by surprise is all. Thanks for giving me this chance Lisa." _

_"Heh...You're very much welcome. It's great to hear you like this again Gabriel."_

_

* * *

_

**Gabriel's P.O.V. **

Just like that, the deal was made: temporary custody for half a year. God knows why they made it so long, but in life, you've just gotta deal with what it gives you. As for explaining to Joshua, I told Lisa that I'd take care of explaining most of it. I just didn't expect the appointment to be on the same day she was leaving, nor was I expecting Joshua to be there with her. But being the wordy man I was, I was able to make an impromptu explanation about what happened. In reality...he wasn't as angry as I thought he'd be, just surprised, but in a good way. It was a little awkward for a few seconds, but I told him everything I told his mom, that I'd be there for him and be a better father than I was before. Right afterwards we...hugged a bit. Kind of odd, since it was only the first day and it'd seem too quick, but for the first time in the longest...I felt happy.

"Not a lot of lacerations, but they're hemorrhaging a lot."

"True. Hand me the drain and sutures."

I snap out of it just as I pass through the doors of the OR. The kid's having another one of his reduction surgeries today. Good, he seems to be keeping up a good pace lately. Last I heard from Holden was that he had about 194 years left.

Quietly walking through to the supply cart, I grab a moderate roll of gauze along with some tape and make my way out without drawing any attention. Reflecting back on those memories, the same mantra popped back up in my mind: If I'm only keeping Joshua for six months, then I have to make every day of those months count.

* * *

**Joshua's P.O.V. **

_Things are starting to change an awful lot lately. First Mom's leaving for Italy 'cause of her job. Then the doctor from before comes to meet the both of us and tells me that he's my dad!...The last one I don't mind so much. Don't get me wrong, it's really surprising and just came out of the blue, but I kind of wanted it to happen. I mean, we had the same hair, same eyes, even the same last name! Not only that, but he was really nice and even though I got yelled at, he still cared enough to find out what was wrong with me. He was the same way when we met again a couple of days ago. Mom said that I've got to stay with him while she's gone. I wonder what this is gonna be like..._

_"Joshua, are you alright?" _

_"Oh! I'm fine da-ah...da..." _

_"Hey, I understand if you're not exactly ready to call me 'dad' yet, don't worry so much. Anyways, we're at the airport now, come out to say good-bye to your mom." _

_I get out of the car and stretch myself a little. Nngh...I must've been daydreaming for the entire ride. Even though there was a bombing here a few weeks ago, Portland Airport is still being used, the only thing is that they're still fixing up that one gate. It made a lot of people angry though about what happened, but there's still a demand for travel and the nearest airport from here is about...3, 4 miles from town. _

_"You don't have to take me out to the terminal, I can walk it out." _

_"Are you sure about that?" _

_"I don't have that much stuff, I'll be fine." _

_"Okay...just these two bags? Pretty easy to take along, I'll take your word for it." _

_Dad and Mom are still trying to talk to each other in the flesh. It's got to be hard for them if she doesn't want to talk to him that much. Stepping out more, I reach out for a good-bye hug. "Good luck Mom, and see you in a few months." _

_She returned the hug tightly, whispering in my ear "Good-bye Joshua, be good to your dad alright? Keep yourself safe and always listen to him." _

_"Erm...o-okay." _

_"Lisa, take it easy on him, he's still healing up from surgery." Dad warns her. _

_Letting go of me, Mom stands up and looks Dad in the eye. "Take good care of Joshua, I'm seriously counting on you for this. Bye." Turning straight on her heels, she starts walking towards the airport. That was...kind of cold, not really like her. _

_Turning to me, Dad quietly asks "You wanna move some of your stuff in my place now? After that, we can go out and do **something **for today at least." _

_"Sure, let's go." _

_Before we even left today, Mom packed up all my clothes and games so I could move in fast. It's boxed up in the back, and the Jeep's spacious enough in the back to let it all fit in. On the drive back, there was this one question that's just been itching to be answered. "Excuse me?" _

_"Hmm? What is it Joshua?" _

_"Well, it's...You know how you and Mom are divorced now, right?" _

_"Yeah?" _

_"You've been apart for about 8 years, so why didn't you divorce earlier?" _

_That might not have been the best time to ask that. Right after I said that, he started looking all sad. _

_"Huh, that's a good question..." he quietly said to himself. After some thinking, he answered back "Well, I guess that's because even though I didn't really want to say it out loud before, I still had some feelings for your mother and I kind of, sort of thought that there might've been a chance of us getting back together, so I didn't want to officially leave her right then and there." _

_Keeping his eyes on the road, he continued "I guess all that waiting's just worth nothing now. Even when we filed for divorce that day, she didn't have any emotion on her face. No remorse, no nervousness, nothing..." _

**_*SCREEEE!* _**

_"Whoa!" _

_"Nngh!...Sorry about that, but we're here. Just lemme park..." _

_I never thought that he would live in a place like this. It's a 3-floor brick house with navy blue for the windowsills and sky blue for everywhere else except the roof, which was just plain white. It looks like it's been here for a long time, but it was taken care of really well. There's not much grass in the front, but I could see a little gate left open into a huge backyard. To sum it up, even though it looks old, it's seriously cozy too. I was pretty awestuck for a few seconds, then I went back to reality once I heard Dad chuckle from behind. _

_"If you're gonna ask, then no, I don't own all this. I've only got ownership over the top floor. But if you're nice enough, then maybe the landlady will let you play in the back. Now c'mon, we've got some unpacking to do." _

**_40 minutes later... _**

_"Whew! This took a while, but we did it. What do you think?" _

_"Now that everything's in place, it looks a lot nicer than before. I couldn't really believe that I used to sleep in here at first." _

_"Well, that's life for you: you never really know what passed before your eyes from a few years. You get astounded by all the choices you made, what you used to like, et cetera, et cetera. I'm just happy that we're done!" With that, Dad just plopped down on my bed. _

_For a couple of minutes, it was quiet, then he snapped his fingers. "Shoot, that's right!" He then sprung up from the bed and asked "What do you want to do today Joshua?" _

_"Hmm? I thought you were tired just a couple of minutes ago?" _

_"Yeah, but look at the time, it's 1 in the afternoon. I've got plenty of time for that." _

_"So...I can pick whatever I want to do right now?" _

_"Of course, whatever you'd like, just tell me." _

_Honestly, I was kind of unsure on what to do at that moment. Shifting on my feet for a bit, I thought of the first thing I needed to do. "Well...I've got some books to return to the library today. Is that alright?" _

_"Sure! But is there anything, oh I dunno, **fun **that you'd like to do?" _

_Hold on...fun? Lately, I've been busy trying to catch up with schoolwork and old tests since I went to the hospital. It's been really tense and Mom kept on pressuring me to keep working. Because of that, I didn't really get to spend that much time with my friends or just play around. Well, summer break ends in a few weeks and Dad seems to be pretty loose. "There's nothing else I want to do aside from going to the new hall of science that just opened up a few days ago. It's supposed to be really fun and helpful." _

_"Huh, I've heard good things about that place. Alright, we'll just put that on our itinerary and...is that all?" _

_"Yeah, c'mon Dad, let's hurry out!" _

_"See, you're already getting comfortable with me that you can cut the formalities and- hey, wait up, don't run so fast!"_

_Right after that, we got what we needed and went out. For the first day out with Dad, it was really fun! We were able to spend time together and everything. Whatever doubts I had about him were cleared up that day. Sure, he may be a little rough around the edges at times, but maybe if things go well, then it just might be able to help patch things up between him and Mom again..._

"ENOUGH!"

"Ah!"

I wake up from my memory to find myself back in Dad's office. There's no one to watch over me, so he had to take me with him to work. It's kind of cool here, the only thing we've been doing was talking while he was doing some paperwork and chatting with RONI, his assistant. Well...we **try **to chat with her. It looks like she only knows how to talk professionally, not normally. She gets him all riled up sometimes and it's pretty funny just to watch. The room was pretty comfy, especially the couch, so I couldn't help but fall asleep.

Anyways, I sit up a bit to find some complete stranger sitting at the computer desk staring down RONI. She looks like she's another doctor from here, only because of the coat she's wearing. It doesn't look like she even knows I'm here, she seems too angry to notice. Her eyes are kinda scary, like there's some sort of light going on and off in them, and I think she has fangs coming out of her mouth. But her voice seems to be the scariest of all, it sounds like what she's saying is a threat, no matter what she says.

"I'd advise 'fer you not 't keep goin'..."

Oh man, it looks like she wants to rip something apart!

"If 'yer so smart, then you'd know not 't talk anymore. I've already got enough of my past 't cope with..."

However, as soon as she got angry, she looked like she calmed down, at least her eyes aren't going crazy anymore. Even better, her voice is much lighter now, almost like it belongs to an idol.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that. I don't need some immediate biography, I know enough about myself...but, again, 'cause you're so smart, you think you could do me a favor?"

"Of course, Dr. O'Mara."

Wait, is she forgiving RONI for something? I must've missed it while I was asleep.

Almost leaning her face into the screen, the doctor asked "Look at my face. What do you notice?"

"I know that there are signs of fatigue present."

"Good, then you must know what I have to do to get rid of fatigue, right?"

"Lithium salts, ciprofloxacin-"

"No...Rest. That is all I ever need to feel better. Now would you kindly just sit there and stay quiet while I do so? I can heal faster that way, y'know?"

"Yes, Dr. O'Mara" As soon as she said that, RONI looked like she was about to shut down 'cause of her background fading, but then it turned back on and she asked "How can I properly sit, though? I have no organic appendages of my own. Furthermore..."

"UGH!" As soon as RONI turned back on, the doctor began to look for some way to turn her off on her own. Kneeling down in front of her, she pulled out a few wires which finally shut her off. "Whew! Glad that's over with!"

Right when she slumps back in the chair, I can't help but let out a little laugh! I'm sorry, but just watching her reminds me of how frantic Dad gets around RONI. I don't think he even thought of unplugging her!

"Hmm?"

Oh, shoot, I think she heard me! Quickly, I turn the other way on the couch and make like I'm sleeping. I hear the chair turning and her going "awww..." a little, then I hear some little steps and then she whispers "Honestly, he looks so _adorable!_ It's like the old adage proves: A child who sleeps well grows well."

Huh? _Now_ she's being nice? She fluffs up my hair a bit and turns the other way saying "To change the subject, the air's so ...*hyawn*...nice in here, like sweaters...I'll just...rest my eyes for a bit..."

Once I'm sure she's asleep, I turn back around. Just who is she? Why did Dad leave her in here? Most importantly, is she nice or evil or...

***k-chk* **

"Huh?"

**Third-person P.O.V. **

Tottering off to the door, Joshua opened it up to find his father standing outside with his conquested roll of gauze. "Yo...um, Joshua? It's nice to see you up and all, but did you see some blonde, yellow-eyed doctor here?"

"Do you mean the other doctor here? She fell asleep. Why did you bring her here Dad, is she a friend of yours?"

"Well...sort of yes and sort of no. She's a new surgeon here at Resurgam, transferred here from England. She got hurt some time ago, so I have to help her. You want to help?"

"Sure, but have you noticed that she's...kinda weird?"

"What do you mean?" By now, Gabriel was carefully trying to pick the surgeon up without disturbing her. "If you mean how she changes moods so fast, then I already know. In reality, I think she's kind of nice, given the right conditions. I guess we've got to give her some time is all."

Placing her on the couch with her arms dangling off the edge, the diagnostician began the minor treatment. "Alright Joshua, I've got some tape in the cabinet. I want you to take that out and give me a few pieces when I give you the say, alright?"

"Okay."

"Hmm...there's still some remnants of the burns. A reapplication of the gel along with some pressure from the gauze overnight should do the trick." To start with, he rolled the computer chair over to the couch and used that as his station as he gingerly picked up her right hand. However, there was one thing that caught his eye: the visibility and extent of her veins. Usually on your palm, you should only see a few upward blue streaks along with the same ones faintly appearing on the rest of your fingers. But on Lisbeth's hand, her veins were seen to be clearly spread out on her palm and fingers, while some were slightly varicose.

"What the...?"

Pushing back the sleeve of her lab coat, Gabe observed that the same pattern of veins repeated itself on the rest of her arm, extending to the elbow. Softly squeezing her arm, he also noted that there seemingly wasn't a lot of fat on the limb.

"Along with her paleness, these are some bad signs. Is she anemic, or...wait, what am I doing? For all I know, that could just be her complexion. I've just got to focus on dressing the wound and just wait for her to wake up so we can head home. I can't just let this throw me off my track..."

Spraying a little blob of the dermatological gel on his hand, the diagnostician made quick work of the burns by smearing it onto the affected areas of the hands and wrapping them in a few layers of gauze afterwards. While he had been satisfied with his work and decided to wait until a few minutes after she woke up to send her out, he couldn't push out the possibilities of the surgeon's condition.

While his father was thinking, Joshua went over to RONI and said to his father "Oh, I forgot to tell you, she unplugged RONI while you were gone. I'm sure you're wondering why it's been so quiet before. I guess I'll just put her back on."

"Oh, that's good, that's good..." His father murmured. However, when he realized what would happen if she was turned on right then and there, he quickly turned about and half-yelled "No, wait!"

Too late. RONI was back on-line and gave out her standard greeting of "Good evening, Dr. Cunningham."

A small yawn was let out, followed by a longer, more exuberant yawn. A few seconds later, Lisbeth sat upright, stretched out her back, then slouched back onto the couch while her eyes were still closed. "That was an awfully good nap..." she muttered to herself, possibly still half-asleep. However, when she opened up her eyes, she was in for one hell of a surprise.

"WHAT THE FLIPPIN' 'ECK ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?" By now, she had bolted back upright on the couch.

"You seriously don't remember? I just saved your career!" Gabriel yelled back.

"Eh? You...Ah, right." She then looked down at her bound hands. "I'm sorry about that, I just get kinda hysterical when I wake up. Thank you for helping me...um..." Her voice trailed off for a name.

"Gabriel Cunningham, remember? You could just call me Gabe if you want." he replied.

"Alright then, thanks Dr. Cunningham. Again, sorry for scaring you and just being downright nasty."

"You're welcome...Sooooo..."

"Sooooo... I'm sorry again, just where are my manners today? I'm-"

"You don't need to introduce yourself. Pretty much everyone here knows who you are."

"Ah..."

Cue awkward silence...Awkward silence that lasts for about 6 minutes. Aforementioned silence that could not be filled out between a local resident and a newbie that has no sense of direction in this brave new world.

"Um, Doctor?" Joshua's little voice piped up. Almost in a flash, both adult's heads turned towards the little boy, Gabriel inconspicuously mouthing "Thank you".

"Mm? Did you want something?" Lisbeth replied, thanking the young boy as well in her mind.

"Well, when we saw you today, you had to go to do an operation. What was that about?"

"Do you mean the operation itself? Well, I just had to take care of some extreme ulcers of a woman and that was about it."

"Short girl, brown wispy hair, and blue eyes?" Gabe interjected.

"Yup, that's the one! But how'd you know?"

"I'm the one that had the duty to diagnose her, which was a _real _joy." he replied, his voice laden with sarcasm. "Speaking of which, what was your first impression of her?"

Not being able to put out her opinion verbally for the sake of the child, Lisbeth instead put her hand in the shape of a gun, made like she was loading it, put it to her head, and with a silent "Pow..." fell to the side 'dead'.

Chuckling, the diagnostician figured "Not exactly 'best pal' material, is she?"

Propping herself up, the surgeon answered "I'm sorry, but the way she acted made it seem like she actually _wants _to be a little brat. If I didn't know any better, then I'd say that she was spoiled rotten from birth!"

"You mean like a 'Daddy's little girl' kind of way?"

"Heheh...Actually, she never said anything about her family. Then again, we only talked for a few seconds before her surgery. I'm probably gonna have to check in with her in a few days, so she'll probably spill. But aside from that, she certainly sounds like it...Wait, do you happen to have the time?"

"Um, sure. It's...a quarter to 7."

In a flash, Lisbeth nearly jumped up from the couch and started to make her way to the exit. "Oh man, oh man, I've gotta meet up with my landlord! Before that, I've gotta pick up the rest of my stuff from the shipyard, and I don't even wanna start on trying to find some dinner!...Oh, and it was a delight to meet the both of you." Bowing slightly, she partially muttered "Dr. Cunningham, Joshua." With that, she nearly sprinted out.

Gazing out of the door, Joshua asked his father "Do you really think she's gonna be alright?"

Sighing, Gabriel got up and got his stuff together so that they could leave. "Considering how long she's been here and how much she might know about Portland in general, I don't think so. C'mon, let's go help her out...again."

Meanwhile, Lisbeth was weaving this way and that throughout the halls, trying to get her plans together.

_Alright, the appointment's at 7:45, so that'll give me enough time to head over to the shipyard... _the Englishwoman though while swapping out her cellphone and turning on a certain app. _...Which according to my GPS is about 3 miles from here. So to get there, I'd need to get a car or motorbike...which I don't have yet...Oh! But I could just pay a cab to take me there, which requires U.S. dollars and I didn't even have the time...to get to an...exchange booth... _

During the course of her train of thought, the surgeon's traveling speed decreased ever so slowly with each step until she stopped dead in her tracks, completely lost.

_F**k. _

Suddenly, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She turned around to see Gabriel waving a set of keys in front of her and Joshua standing behind his father, trying to shelter himself. "You mind leading the way?"

"Erm...sure, go on."

As they went out into the parking lot, Lisbeth couldn't help but notice a strand of red string on the diagnostician's sleeve. She was successful in lifting off the strand, but she lingered for too long and inadvertently got his attention.

"What's wrong this time?"

"Oh, it's nothing...Just this little piece of sting there."

"Heh...OCD much?"

_**SLAM!**_

Right after that, Lisbeth _accidentally_ stuck out her foot in front of Gabe's leg while they were walking. As a result, he not only got some major pain delivered to his shin, he fell flat on his face on the pavement. Covering her mouth to try to keep her laughter under control, she managed to say "Whoops, sorry. I get to be a little uncoordinated at times..."

"...Be lucky you're sick." He muttered.

"What?"

"It's nothing...Let's just head out of here."

_

* * *

_

**The red thread of fate...**

**An East Asian belief stemming from Chinese and Japanese folklore. According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red thread around the ankles of men and women who are destined soulmates. The two people connected are definite lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may tangle or stretch, but it will never break... **

**Complete B.S.! **

**To me, there is no exact fate, it's only the choices you make and what you do with the aftermath. It's how you influence your own life and how you decide to live with it and break out of whatever tight spot you get into, not some weird fairy-tale. **

**But somehow right at that point...I never really imagined the extent to which this encounter would change my fate...even though I don't really believe in things like that. **

* * *

**Ending Notes: **You're welcome guys, I pwned my word count estimate just for you.

Alright, firstly, if you're reading this, then you've read through all 6,893 words of this. Congrats.

Secondly, I've kept loads of people waiting for this, so sorry **Wavebreeze **and **LittleGuyLover**. Oh, and before I forget, thanks to **Kiara Arisato **for going on the alert and for my beta client **Indochine Ramera **for reviewing during my small hiatus. Speaking of which, I'm gonna get on the last few parts after this!

Lastly, since I've got loads of plans and projects going on (If you're really _that _curious, then check out my profile or PM me) the next batch of chapters will be postponed to Christmas and New Year's, but being the procrastinator I am, I'll probably keep finding excuses to put this off further.

So bye for now, I'm gonna collapse right on my feet now. **THUD.**


	5. Premonition

**10:00 P.M, 8/25/20**

"Okay, let's just leave that box there and we're just about done!"

"Urgh! Jeez, did you pack your entire apartment in these boxes?"

"Trust me Doctor, these are only the most necessary things I need. The rest was sold off with my old place. Hand me that boxcutter there?"

It was getting to be late in Portland, and the trio of Lisbeth, Gabriel, and Joshua just came back from their trip and were putting her various belongings in little spots in the "living room" for the time being. After picking up the Englishwoman's things from the shipyard, they proceeded to pop by a conveniently placed currency exchange booth to change her U.K. pounds into American dollars. Putting the moving boxes into a rented trolley, the last thing they needed to do was to get some fast food (Lisbeth had never eaten any real fast food, let alone a burger, mind you, which made the drive to McDonald's be all the more vital). After all was said and done, they were now finishing up with putting away Lisbeth's boxes in her new studio apartment. Of course, she could've been able to put all these boxes away on her own, but her escort insisted on helping her, which was seriously surprising.

Taking the boxcutter and cutting into the closest box, she opened it and took out a sleeping bag, some night clothes, and a flashlight. "That's it for tonight, you can leave now."

Scratching the back of his head, Gabriel tentatively asked "Are you sure about this? You could stay with us down the block if you need to."

"No, I don't want to be a burden. You seem like you can hardly keep your ends together yourself."

_Gee, thanks... _"Well...I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess..."

Suddenly, Lisbeth felt a pulling at her shirt from the side. She turned to see Joshua looking up at her. _Someone's gonna fall pretty hard if they keep looking in those big brown eyes._ she thought. Trying to speak, she stuttered "Wh...What is it, Joshua?"

Getting up the nerve to talk again, he asked "Are you gonna try to visit us at least?" At first, he had been pretty terrified of Lisbeth, but after getting some time to know her over their fast food dinner, he actually saw that she was really nice and could crack a few jokes from time to time.

Trying to get her speech together, she muttered "Erm...well..."

**THUMP-THUMP-THUMP... **

Looking towards the connecting wall which was slightly pulsating with the speakers' and the music's rhythm, Gabe clicked his tongue "Honestly, could they be any louder?"

For the past half hour, there had been a group of college grads that had recently finished moving in and had thrown an extremely loud housewarming party. The group figured that these young adults must've been pretty hard-headed. Even when some of the guests were going up while Gabe and Lisbeth toiled with the boxes, they didn't even take a look at them.

Turning her glance back to Joshua, Lisbeth answered "I'll tell you what, if it gets any rowdier over here, then I'll come over to your place, 'kay?"

Smiling, Joshua spoke back "Alright then, see you soon!"

Exchanging hi-fives, the young boy joined up with his dad who was already walking towards the exit. Turning to take one last look at Lisbeth for the night, Gabriel had caught her mouthing "Seriously, your son's wonderful!"

Responding with a silent "I know. Good night 'Doctor'." the pair made their way downstairs.

* * *

**12 minutes later... **

After a no-frills snack of leftover popcorn shrimp and Sprite from today's flight, Lisbeth got into her sleeping bag and tried to force herself asleep. However, she felt something itching at the back of her mind that she couldn't exactly get at. Thinking that it might have been excitement from the day's events, she decided to at least contemplate a little on the people she's met so far. Sure, judgment isn't the best thing to turn to when it comes to new friends, but it's at least got to get her to sleep, right?

The prisoner...sure it'd been a few days since she met him, but he wasn't the most settling person to turn to when you're all alone. His little federal entourage didn't help either. However, when she heard of his little problem from Holden, she began to feel sorry for the young surgeon. That pity grew a little more day by day. The premise of being abused by his old family and abandoned by his own adoptive father...

Right then and there, Lisbeth began to feel that he was a kindred spirit that she had to help. She could partially associate with his past and resolved to become more friendly and open with him.

Springing the metaphorical clock forward a bit, Lisbeth then turned her attention to Chief Patel and Maria Torres. Both seemed to be of good spirit and energy, most of that energy spilling out from Maria. The latter reminded her of an energetic dog, always ready for anything, possibly the first to react - or overreact - in any situation. But it looks like she means well, an example of which is when she nearly knocked Lisbeth off the roof, then pulled her back. She may be a good person to have around when there's physical tension in the air.

Moving on, she tried to figure out the personalities of the giant and the foreigner. While the man had been as tall and buff as he is, he doesn't seem to put it out even for show. Rather, he would have been more of a peaceable person, trying to find a solution for anything without violence or provocation. She was pretty sure of that when she bumped into him without any other gossip-worthy incident. _Good, _Lisbeth thought _that's the sign of a kind, selfless hero._

As for the kimono-clad woman, she seemed to follow a strict regimen in her life and her heart. There was an air of regalia and honor about her, yet, in a poetic sense, she could see some puppetry being worked into her life, which she found to be rather odd. Heck, even her helping Lisbeth up might've been prescribed by whatever was pulling her around. Nearly getting a headache from thinking about that, she decided to drop that topic for the time being.

Last but not least, Gabriel Cunningham...Tch, he was a pretty hard person to get a hold of. The so-called "Master of Deduction" looked to be nothing more than some lazy bum. Throughout the ride, he couldn't help but complain about the crazy patients he had to work with. Sure, it was funny the first time, but after a few more knocks, it got a little agitating. If this guy didn't really care about his work, then why was he even around? Shouldn't he be retired by now?

**THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...**

Lisbeth growled at her next-door "neighbors" hooting and hollering like there was no tomorrow. _Stupid party...Have a little respect, won't ya? _

Getting up and taking a long wooden pole from a nearby closet, she began to jab at the wall yelling "Yo, you mind? Some of us are tryin' to sleep here!"

Alas, the party kept on going with no signs of stopping. Growling to herself, Lisbeth buried her head under her pillow and kept trying to think. Looking back, she asked herself _If he really didn't care, then why did he help me? _There was the thought of that and how much he seemed to care for his own son. He told her that he was one of his own patients in the past. Was he really as careless as he seemed or was he just-

**THUMP... **

...Was he just-

**THUMP... **

...Was he-

**THUMP-THUMP-THUMP... **

That was that. Lisbeth had enough of all that noise. "I've had all I can 'stand and I can't 'stand no more..." she growled.

Putting on her work shoes,- her only shoes at the time -she stomped off next door and banged on the door for a good 6 minutes.

When the door finally opened, she was met with a grungy young man who seemed to be the younger version of Gabriel, if he had bloodshot blue eyes instead of brown and his hair was kept a little more tame. There was a bottle of fine red wine in one hand and an empty goblet in the other. Lisbeth easily recognized the brand, it was an imported wine from Spain. Back at Caduceus, the higher-ups got it since it was New Year's. _Holy crap, he's a yuppie. _Lisbeth thought.

Looking over the woman's form for some time, he murmured "On a scale of 1 to 10, I think you'd be a decent se-" Before he could finish, he was met with a soft slap to the face. "Whoa! What the hell was that for babe?" he exclaimed.

"Oh, don't 'babe' me. I've been having a seriously hard time sleeping 'cause of you and your 'party-hardying'." the blonde started while putting air quotes on the last two words. "If you haven't exactly noticed, I and an awful lot of the other tenants have work to do tomorrow, so I think it'd be nice of you to-"

"Yo, Vince!" some guy yelled from the inside. "You'd better hurry up! Cathy's pretty wasted and I think this'd be you chance~" he lightly sang before- at least it sounded like -he collasped.

"Heh, alright Toby, just gimme a minute." Vince yelled back before turning his attention back to Lisbeth. "You sure you don't want to get in here? It'd be pretty sweet if-" He was slapped again, much harder than the last time.

"Honestly, you don't know anything about life other than getting drunk off your ass and partying, do you? It's surprising that people like you and your friends could graduate at your state of mind." Turning on her heels and heading back to her apartment, she gave the man the backhand as she yelled "See you 'round, asswipe!"

Scratching the back of his head, the host murmured "Women are pretty frickin' complicated sometimes..."

* * *

Slamming the door behind her, Lisbeth sank to the floor in defeat. _Dammit, this is the entire reason why I'm single! Men having to be just as irresponsible like them...They'll certainly get theirs... _

Suddenly, she could feel her head throbbing and her mind was starting to get cloudy. _No, no, no, no, no, __**NO!**_ _This is __**not **__the time for an attack! _Looking around the room, she then saw her cell phone charging. _A perfect opportunity! I could just call the cops, file a complaint, and then ask for an ambulance as well. No one's gonna be the wiser this time... _

Trying to get back up on her feet, Lisbeth immediately fell down to her knees. Her legs felt like jelly, and the feeling was spreading slowly to her arms as well. Crawling to the outlet, the cell phone was just at her arm's reach. _Almost there... _

However, she could feel a hand on her shoulder. Looking over it in fear, her eyes met with those of a cloaked figure, it's eerily wide smile glinting in the light let in from outside. "Hello Elisabeth. It's certainly nice to see you again."

* * *

**7:35 A.M., 8/26/20 **

"NO!" Lisbeth yelled as she sprang out of her sleeping bag. Immediately shutting her eyes at the sudden light, she found that it was early morning. Aside from her cell phone being placed right next to the pillow of the bag and the bag itself having been tossed about like it came to life overnight, the rest of the room was just the way it was last night. The last thing she could remember was someone taking hold of her shoulders and yanking her out the room.._.That must've been one heck of a dream then..."_ she thought aloud as she stretched out her spine and made her way to the shower, work clothes and towel in hand.

Once she came out a half hour later, she was about to pick up her bag and leave when her cell rang. Quaking with a bit of fear, she pressed the 'talk' button and slowly put the receiver to her ear. "H...Hello?"

"Lisbeth, hey! How's your morning going?" Lisbeth then mentally sighed in relief, it was only Chief Patel.

"Oh, it's going well, just about to head out to Resurgam." she answered, just stepping out the threshold and locking the door behind her.

"Right now? Aren't you...oh right, _that's_ what I'm calling you for!" Esha exclaimed.

"Huh? For what?" Lisbeth asked.

"It's about your schedule for today. Your shift doesn't start 'till 10:30, so you've got some time to yourself. Just relax and get yourself oriented on the town for now." the Chief advised.

"Th...That's alright. I have to do some errands anyways."

"One day in town and you've already got stuff to do? You must be pretty adept at setting up your abode, aren't you?"

"Well, it's not just that, I've got my ride to take care of as well. A friend of mine's giving me her's for free."

"You've even got connections! Impressive!"

"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, I've got some things to do."

"Alrighty then, but remember that since it's the day after Ms. Binder's surgery, it's paperwork day!"

_Oh...joy. _Lisbeth thought lazily as she hung up.

Before she could descend down the stairs, she couldn't help but check on the 'after-party', or whatever they called it, from next door. Because the threshold for each apartment jutted out a little over an inch ahead of the door while the door itself had a centimeter of a sliver of wood shaved off the bottom, it was easy for any drafts or liquids to go in between the hallway and the actual apartment. However, unless there was too much that it overflowed, then a puddle of liquid would usually seep through and pool under the door. In this case, there was some reddish substance drying up as of now. There was still some of that stuff around since the middle of the mess was still shining.

Utilizing the best of her judgmental abilities, Lisbeth came to this conclusion: "Yes...I saw him holding onto that wine bottle when I was talking to him. He looked pretty hammered, so he must have fallen unconscious after we finished talking and spilled the wine. What a way to end the party...I wonder if he's still there?"

Squatting down to the ground, she tried to greet him with the standard "Hello? Anyone there?" only to get no reply. "Must still be knocked out. Heh, I know the feeling all too well, at least I'm more responsible than that..."

Going even lower, she then took a whiff of the puddle only to knock herself on her butt. "Eugh! I dunno whether or not he was like this last night, but now he absolutely _reeks!_"

Getting up from the floor and dusting herself off, Lisbeth scoffed "I dunno why I'm wasting my time with whelps like you when I've got more important things to be doing right now." Heading down the stairs, she then pulled out her cell and dialed a certain number. "...C'mon...Hello? Yo, Jackie, it's me!

* * *

_Ah, Lisbeth, if you only knew the difference between the smell of alcohol and that of blood, then you might have stumbled upon something of great tragedy...Something that would have made the stakes rise even higher... _

* * *

**Ending Notes:** Okay, so I managed to finish this up just on the night that vacation's over. God, I'm such a procrastinator...But all in all, it was a good haul on Thursday, got to find out that sweet potatoes with marshmallow fluff and almond chips were surprisingly tasty and non-surprisingly unhealthy. Little known fact: the palmback in a nutshell is the British's answer to the middle finger. Go figure.

So again, thanks to all my lovely reviewers, especially **BloodyRosalia, PXLight, and yugiohfan1997 **for jumping onto the bandwagon! :3 So for now, stay sharp.


	6. Lonely Alien

**Author's Note:** Do you ever get motivated to do stuff just by being newly refreshed by an air conditioner? I do. Oh, and happy Fourth of July everyone.

* * *

**11: 45 A.M., Resurgam First Care **

"Hmmm..." Chief Patel was checking her watch again, frustrated at how late her new surgeon was. She specifically told Dr. O'Mara that her shift was supposed to start an hour and 15 minutes ago. However, she wasn't heard from since she called her 4 hours beforehand. "I know she's new, but I can't tolerate this kind of tardiness!"

"Um...Chief Patel. Didn't you encourage her to go out on her own?" Darnell asked, but was unheard due to Esha's internal burning rage. He, along with the Chief, Emma, and Gabriel were waiting outside the entrance of Resurgam for Lisbeth's briefing. The two nurses came along because Darnell wanted to see her again and ended up dragging Emma along with him. Gabe came because Joshua fell asleep again and frankly, he was just plain bored.

"Just calm down Esha! If she told us she's gonna be here, then she'll be here. Can't be that hard, right?" Gabe tried to console her, inhaling more of his cigarette.

"Yeah, I guess you're- wait, _us?_ When were you ever around for that?" Now the Chief was glaring suspiciously at the diagnostician, the latter mentally smacking himself on the head.

_That's right, O'Mara left the others in the dust after her injury. Maybe the burns flared up again and got her side-swept. I could tell Esha about that just to get her off my back, but then I already told the woman I wouldn't say a thing about that... _

"Hm? Dr. Cunningham, did you know Dr. O'Mara before she even came here? Did you even see her on the way out, or...OH MY GOD!" Emma broke out, surprising the rest of the group. Quickly composing herself, she asked "Were you in a...you know, _relationship_ with Dr. O'Mara in the past?"

Scoffing, Gabriel answered with a curt and simple "Hell no."

Teeming with stress, Darnell scolded "Emma, why is it that you enjoy prying into the other doctors' businesses? You should know better than that!"

Shrugging, Emma replied "Well, doctors' lives are more exciting than ours, aren't they?"

"Well, I can't deny that...but still, it's unacceptable and just plain rude!" Now the background people looked more like a father giving her daughter a harsh reprimand, what with one of Darnell's hands on his hip and the other pointing at Emma, who at the moment was looking down at the ground, almost ready to cry.

Suddenly, Esha's phone began to ring. Growling "It's about time...", she immediately flipped open the phone.

However, she was met with a very loud "YO CHIEF!" on the other end of the line. Scared to her wits' end, the Chief dropped her phone, nearly breaking it if it weren't for Gabe reaching out to grab it.

Composing whatever she could of herself, Esha prepared her voice. "Dr. O'Mara, just _what_ have you been doing today? You're late!"

"I know that, and I'm sorry! I'm getting close to Resurgam though, so when I get there, I will **seriously **make it up to you! I'll get straight to work on those papers and even visit the patient!" Lisbeth yelled on the other side. Listening closely, the entire group could make out the sound of a motor running.

Sighing heavily, the Chief replied "It's...it's alright. Just make sure to get yourself ready on time! This could've cost you your job for God's sake!"

Instead of a regular "Of course Chief", she was met with a "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" on the other side of the line.

**VREEEERN... **

Surprised by the surgeon's yell and the sudden sound of an arriving vehicle, the group shook in negative anticipation. Shakily bringing the receiver back to her ear, the Chief asked "...What?"

There was no answer back though, only a message that said the caller had hung up. However, the vehicle- now identified as a motorcycle -came into view. There was a cloud of smoke behind it and the driver, with her lab coat blowing back into the wind and her outfit exposed, was Lisbeth. Her head covered in a basic helmet clipped under her chin, she let out a yell of "GET OUT OF THE GODDAMN WAY!"

There was no time to think, only to dive out of the way as Lisbeth sped past the gate and onto the pavement. If it weren't for the immediate stop onto the curb, she would have just kept going and crashed into the reception room. With Esha curled into a ball near a dumpster, Gabriel hiding out in a shrub, and the two nurses grabbing hold of each other for dear life still lying on the lawn, the courtyard seemed to resemble the aftermath of a war.

Ever so slowly, they raised their heads to find Lisbeth getting off the motorcycle with an odd figure dressed in a orange and black leather suit wearing a more proper motorcycle helmet covering her entire head behind her. Looking around at the chaotic scene, she immediately started to apologize. "My God, I'm so sorry! I never even knew you'd be waiting right up front! I'll...uhm...I'll head straight to my office for the paperwork! I'll start squeezing in a clinical visit for Ms. Binder and...Where's my office?"

Getting up from her position, the Chief angrily pointed at the two of them and yelled "Oh no, not until I get a proper explanation from you and your dangerous little friend! Just what do you think you're doing, riding around in a noisy, scary motorcycle right in front of a hospital?"

Brushing the debris off of himself, Gabe added "Not to mention how you could've killed us? Sheesh, I'm not gonna forget this, y'know. You've got some pretty weird friends, I'll tell you that!"

"Yo! Who you callin' 'weird', old man?" A muffled and gruff, yet feminine voice coming from the helmeted figure surprised the others. The motorist lifted their helmet off to reveal long and loose russet locks covering up a very tired looking woman with a lethal glance in her green eyes. However, this wasn't the standard "Tch. You must be looking for a good ass-kicking." glance, it was more of a "I. WILL. F**KING. _END YOU_." glance. It actually sent a strong chill down the spines of the others.

Continuing her stinging complaints, she added "If anything, I'd call a dude with a giant bush on his head 'weird' too. At least I wash about twice a week."

Lisbeth could see that Gabriel was starting to get angry. His hands had balled up into fists and a vein on his neck was beginning to bulge. Before any actual fighting occurred, the surgeon rushed to introduce her rather wild friend, standing in between the two. "Um, so...This is Jacqueline Rivers, a courier and a friend of mine, of course. She was supposed to lend me her old car, since she's already got a brand new...motorcycle. We met up at the local cafe, had some catching up to do, and time just...flew by. Eventually, we figured out that we had to get here soon and she let me...erm, drive...Again, I'm so sorry! I was just in such a rush, I probably rushed through an awful lot of traffic and-"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Esha cut her off, an exasperated look on her face. "Just as long as no cops caught you, then you're fine. You're lucky it's getting pretty hectic around here, I could use every bit of help I can for now. Remember that this is the only time I'm letting you get away with this. If you keep up with your regular routine, then you're safe." Gesturing towards the hospital, she directed "Go straight to the elevator going up to the second floor. Your office is two rights all the way to the end."

"Okay...thanks." With that, Lisbeth made her way to the entrance, her head hanging down in shame. However, once she took a small glance back to the group, her eyes had that same shine of anger that matched Jacqueline's look. Even from far away, she managed to scare the two nurses, who had just gotten up from the ground.

Once the surgeon was out of view, Emma, with a shaky look on her face, admitted "You know what? She's _scary_..."

"Meh, it'll be alright." the courier assured, just getting onto her bike. "She can be pretty testy at first, but you'll get used to it. I know I did..." With a roar of the engine and a plume of exhaust smoke going up into the air (agitating a certain chain-smoker's throat, sending him into a coughing fit), she yelled "See ya, chumps!"

"She's right Emma," Darnell said, his hand keeping his mouth and nose safe from any pollution. "Whether we like it or not, we've gotta get used to her, even if it kills us. Now let's go."

"What?...Why do I have to come with you? I'm not the one trying to sweep her off her feet!"

The two nurses went inside, their argument not going anywhere. Still coughing, Gabe managed to say "When you say 'we', you don't mean all of us here, right?"

* * *

Once Lisbeth got to her office, she quickly noted the one thing that was truly important about this room: there were only the bare necessities inside. A desk was placed smack dab in front of the wide window at the back. The chair that was put there wasn't one of those comfy spinning office chairs, but a fold-out chair that you take to the stadium when the entire place is filled and you've only got the comfort of the concession stand to ease your pain. A glass tulip bud paperweight and a few black pens were the only decorations on the desk and the only decorations in the room, period.

Sighing, she got closer to her desk and looked at the faint reflection in the window. Her outfit at least looked presentable, but a pair of dark circles surrounded her eyes. Not only that, but the rush of the wind she felt while she was driving caused bits of hair to stick out of her braid. She didn't even know why she was driving, her license wasn't even legit in the States yet. Jacqueline _had _insisted that she should drive though.

"_Your skills might be a little rusty after all this time. Just take the lead and I'll cover for us if we get pulled over!" _

Lisbeth chuckled to herself. "Back then, I would've thought of stuff like that as a joke, but now I'm not so sure..."

"Dr. O'Mara! Here're your documents!" a young, sort of shrill voice announced.

"...Oh, it's you two." Looking back at the doorway, she saw that the two nurses from before, Darnell and Emma, were carrying two small stacks of paperwork. Upon hearing her greeting, the young man in the back began to falter.

"You remember us, right?" Darnell asked, sounding quivery.

Before Lisbeth could even say anything, Emma scoffed, answering "Darnell, do you even know what you sounded like just now? Desperate! Like some stalker at the dark end of a street! If you're gonna approach someone you like, then just act like yourself!"

"Wh-what? Emma, I wasn't even implying that! I just wanted to ask-"

"You _guys._" Lisbeth interrupted, rubbing her temples. All the yelling and rushing this morning had started to catch up with her. The last thing she needed was another argument. "Is there any moment where you can stop acting like children and hand the paperwork over?"

Making a pouty face, Emma plopped her pile on the desk, then promptly walked off. "It's not my fault he likes you a little more..." she muttered almost inaudibly.

"Hold on! Emma, don't be mad!" Darnell yelled after her. Wanting to catch up with her, he went to put his pile down right on top of the other one. "She's not like this usually, but she's my friend, so I've got to put up with this. Long story short, sorry for what happened now, but I've really gotta go now, s-see you Dr. O'Mara!"

Carefully setting herself down into the chair, Lisbeth said to herself "Okay, no distractions, nothing else that's urgent for the moment, just me, a pen, and piles of paperwork. Let's just get this over with." With that, she took a small packet off the top of the pile and began to look for empty spaces to fill her signature in. However, when she came across the first line right at the start, she noticed that there was already a signature there, albeit a bit sloppy. "What?" Skimming down to the next line, she saw that the exact same thing was there. This went on for about a quarter of the pile. "Yup, it's all the same thing...I'll have to thank those nurses later on. At least this takes off some of the time I'm supposed to spend on this."

* * *

**8 Minutes Later...**

"My hand just can't stop cramping now, can it?" Lisbeth asked herself as she tried to flex the fingers on her writing hand while trying to keep her paperwork balanced between her hands. She just got out of her office and was at the reception desk at the front. "Excuse me sir?" she asked the clerk up front.

He was typing for a while until he heard her. He pulled out a pair of ear buds he had been wearing and answered "Welcome to Resurgam First Care. How can I help?"

"Yes, do you know where Chief Patel's office is?" A few pages were starting to slip out. She quit moving her fingers and saved them.

"Of course. It's on this floor. Take a left here and it's the third door on your right hand side." The clerk pointed out, making little gestures to show her.

"That takes out the effort of going on some wild goose chase. Thank you!" Lisbeth speed-walked down to the door and knocked on the door with her foot.

Footsteps, along with the Chief answering "I'll be there in a mo'" were heard. As soon as the door opened, Lisbeth shoved the paperwork in her hands. "Oh, well you're done already? Jeez, couldn't take the weight anymore, could you?"

"...Sorry." Lisbeth muttered, however her boss was already looking over the beginning of the pile.

"Mmhmm...these are legit so far. I'll look them over later but can you come into my office before you leave? I've got to talk to you about a few things."

"Alright then." They both stepped into the office. Lisbeth saw that despite the Chief's welcoming and sunny personality, she didn't have much in her office that showed it. In fact, the rest of the room was more static and steely than she thought. "I think that you'll find that the rest of these papers were filled out correctly."

"Yeah, yeah. Listen Elisabeth, I'd like to talk a bit about this morning." At this, the Chief became more stern and her gaze became piercing.

The surgeon could feel chills going up her spine at that. Trying her best to assure her that everything was alright, the only thing she could get out were a jumble of words. "I, ah, um...Chief Patel, I c-can honestly say tha-that I have a stable, no...Wait, should I say stable?...I mean ample amount of confidence in m..my ability to-"

Waving her hand as if to ward off some malevolent spirit, Esha interrupted her. "It's not about that! I already heard from you that it was a one-time thing, right?" Seeing her nod 'yes', she continued. "I'm just concerned about your well-being so far. Now I know that you just got here yesterday and that everything's just a hot mess now, right? Don't be so worried! I'd just like to know a little about you and your friend...hmph, what was her name again?"

"Jacqueline." Lisbeth finished, some stability in her voice coming back.

"Right, right...Has she ever, well...been involved in any scandalous, demeaning incidents?"

Raising her eyebrows at this, Lisbeth answered "Oh no! She usually just keeps to herself! Last I heard, she didn't really have a lot of friends at work."

"Ah, okay then. Has she ever done drugs or booze?"

"No."

"Has she been involved in a prostitution ring or works like that on her own?"

"Oh my...No!"

"Has she ever been in any fights that ended with her killing someone?"

"Chief Patel, I can assure you that my friend has and never will partake in any of these things that you've mentioned! We've kept in contact over the years and if she ever did anything wrong, then she'd tell me. Now can we please move on?" Lisbeth could feel her chest rising and falling very quickly. Her anxiety would be the death of her unless she learned how to keep her various pressures under check.

Esha had a worried look on her face now. "Of course Lisbeth. It's just that here at Resurgam, we have gotten a reputation for having a staff of respected hard-working doctors here. Not that I'm just focused on saving face for the hospital, but I really want to keep you from being hurt. Jacqueline just seems like a really...erm...seedy character, you know?"

"Yeah, she can look like that, but..." Lisbeth cut herself off there and began to look around the office, some sort of glaze forming on her eyes. She began to slump forward a little in her seat as she glanced from place to place.

_ Is she spacing out? _ The Chief asked herself in her mind. "Um, Lisbeth? There's other things we've gotta talk about."

"...Oh, really? What other kinds of things?" Right at the mention of the subject's change, the surgeon's focus returned and she sat straight up.

Surprised at how fast she came back, Esha flinched, but continued "This one's concerning a surgery that you're going to be supporting tomorrow. It's a laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder removal. We'll be using a slightly altered version of the LESS procedure for this one."

Even though she was smiling in quiet excitement for the opportunity to be a witness to this operation, Lisbeth couldn't help but say "Chief, I'm not sure that I should help in such an easy procedure such as this."

Quietly scoffing at the thought of this, the Chief replied "Not with the condition that the patient's gallbladder is in. During his diagnosis, there were signs that there were symptomatic gallstones present. If anything, then these could be cancerous and we'll need to call you or the kid in to take care of the next step."

_The kid?...Oh, right. The prisoner. _She corrected herself.

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. A muffled voice asked "Chief, did you call for me?" Even though the door held back the volume, it was easy to tell that the voice had a calm and sweet tone to it.

"Tomoe? You're later than usual. Never mind that, come in." the Chief answered.

The door opened to reveal a petite black-haired girl wearing a kimono and a lab coat. It took Lisbeth a few seconds to get it together, but she recognized the girl as the one who helped her up yesterday. Frankly, she thought that she would be rather annoyed with how she was that day.

Getting up from her desk, the Chief introduced the two. "Dr. O'Mara, this is our top endoscopic surgeon Tomoe Tachibana. You'll be consulting her tomorrow. Tomoe, this is Elisabeth O'Mara, you know, that doctor you helped out a bit yesterday?"

"Yes of course." Tomoe replied. She held out her hand, which Lisbeth promptly shook.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Tachibana." Lisbeth said, putting on a warm smile to show that she was happy to see her.

"The same to you. I hope that you enjoy your term here in Resurgam." The endoscopist smiled back. The two women in the room could feel a warm, caring feeling radiating from Dr. Tachibana.

"Wonderful! Now that we're all acquainted, then let's get started here. Tomoe, I want you to really introduce her to the rest of the team. Lisbeth, you're scheduled to meet with Ms. Binder in room 208 in 15 minutes. For now, just get acquainted with everyone else here."

The two bowing slightly, they made their departure. Ever so ready to break the ice, Tomoe asked "So Dr. O'Mara, how is work in Resurgam going for you lately?"

"Well I can't give my opinion on just one day, but...I'll just say that it's certainly no Caduceus" Lisbeth managed to say. _Damn that is so __**typical! **__Why'd I have to say that? _She thought.

Tomoe simply chuckled and said "Well I'm sure that you'll get along well with everyone here. Now let's head to the cafeteria, it's supposed to be our lunch break at this time."

* * *

_Huh, so things really aren't that different between social lives at Caduceus and here._

The cafeteria wasn't full to bursting, but it was still crowded despite it's big size. Most of the populace in this room was made up of the families of patients that were staying here. Whatever doctors you could see had managed to grab their own tables with their friends. Among the people, Lisbeth could make out a mix of yellow and green. Coming closer with Tomoe, that yellow and green was now identified as Maria. She was sitting with the tall man from yesterday talking to him about something. She couldn't exactly hear much over the other conversations, but she could hear a few blurbs of speech that showed that it had something to do with "those goddamned rookies!".

"Maria!" Tomoe called, waving her hand.

"Heeeey Tomoe! Morning Lisbeth!" Maria yelled back. "You get your lunch yet?"

"Not yet! Hanzou hasn't brought back lunch, and Dr. O'Mara just got out of...Dr. O'Mara?" The ninja looked around for her accomplice. Her eyes finally found her at the end of a long line, waiting for lunch. Relieved, she decided to sit down with her friends.

Over at the kitchen, things were hectic. The line extended back to the trash bins at the entrance, making for an unwelcome start. There was a small amount of staff, so people could see that a lot of rushing was being done. Among the clamor of orders from customers, the workers had to shout to get things clear. Over time, the food started to sell fast and the items that not a lot of people wanted became abundant. By the time Lisbeth came back, she had managed to get a few pieces of cornbread, a chocolate shake, and a can of Dr. Pepper.

"Whoa! Someone's a heavy drinker!" Maria teased her the second she sat down.

"What can I say? I get thirsty faster than most people." Lisbeth replied.

Pulling the tall man closer to her, Maria said "Alright Lisbeth, this guy here is Hank Freebird. He's our top orthopedic surgeon here. Don't get scared, he's really nice! Hank, this is Elisabeth O'Mara, she's the new surgeon here."

"It's nice to meet you Dr. O'Mara." Even thought the man meant well, his muscular appearance and his deep voice still intimidated Lisbeth.

"So tell us a bit about yourself Dr. O'Mara. I'm sure that you have many fascinating things to tell us." Tomoe wondered aloud.

Readjusting herself in her seat, Lisbeth asked "Well, what do you want to know? I don't really like generalizing things."

The group passed the time for a bit by asking Lisbeth about trivial things, like her favorites, past and current events and the like. It was only until one question was asked that the mood went downhill.

"So how's your family been doing?"

At this, Lisbeth's face lost it's healthy appearance and began to lose it's color. Her expression became crestfallen and her tone was sullen.

"That much I can't say." She told them. "My family's kind of...all over the place."

"Oh. How much?" Hank asked.

"The last time I saw my dad was about 2 years ago, and my mom...well, I know she's out there with her husband and kids. They're both still kicking, so don't worry about that." She assured them.

"Well, don't you have any other siblings? You look like the type that got molded by a big sister!" Maria predicted.

"Actually, I've got an older brother. He's in the medical business too. We've been really close ever since we were kids. Problem is that he doesn't really keep in touch with me nowadays. I send him letters and e-mails, but he doesn't reply back. I've even visited him at his workplace, but he didn't even take a glance at me." After a short pause, Lisbeth took out her cell phone, looked at the time, and quickly stood up. "I've got to meet with a patient today, bye." With that, she quickly strode out of the cafeteria.

Once she was out of sight, Maria scratched the back of her head. "Pretty touchy subject, eh?" she asked.

"Indeed, she's lucky that she at least knows her mother is out there." Tomoe said, her mind reflecting on her own family.

"Let's just cut the speculation and leave it at that, alright?" Hank wanted to end this discussion as soon as possible to avoid anything else happening.

"Agreed." Both girls said.

* * *

As Sasha Binder eased the last spoonful of her cole slaw down her throat, there was a rapping at the door. "C'mon in." She hoped that it was someone, anyone, who could let her leave. However, as the surgeon from yesterday came inside, the excited spark in her eyes was lost. "Oh. It's you." She immediately dropped her head down to keep from having any eye contact.

Waving her hand from the hip, Elisabeth greeted her. "Hello Ms. Binder, how are you feeling today?"

"Eh. My stomach doesn't hurt as much anymore, so can I go home now?" Sasha rushed.

"Unfortunately, we've got to have you stay here a little longer to make sure there aren't any last-minute infections or aftereffects."

"Tch, I really don't need this crap right now...Do you even know what I'm trying to do in life?" the patient asked, almost yelling.

_And here we go ladies and gents..._Elisabeth thought to herself as she braced herself for a monologue of a life story.

"Do you want to know why I even took those pills?"

_Lemme guess: You're a poor college dropout who couldn't take having such a crappy life anymore? _

"It's because I wanted to get something worthwhile on my resume and I needed to pay off school."

"...What?" The school payment was alright, but out of all the reasons the surgeon thought that someone would want to take pills, building up a resume was now the weirdest one.

"I moved down here to Portland because one of the colleges here has a pretty good medical program. I've got a work-study program as one of my methods of paying it off. However, that's starting to come to an end this semester. I was trying to look for a new way of getting some cash, so I started looking up ads and stuff. I thought I found something worthwhile to pay it off when I found that a pharmaceutical company was looking for some people to test out a new drug in development. It figures that they wouldn't say anything about any side effects." She looked up now, only to find that her surgeon had already made her way to the window at her side, her fingers tapping on the wooden windowsill. She wasn't even looking at her, her eyes were fixated at whatever was going on outside.

"So," her fingers were drumming harder, "why did you go to those 'omnipotent' wannabes? Didn't you feel any regret for yourself, for your health as a medical student? Didn't you have _some _opinion of them?"

The patient shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't really think much of companies like that, but I'm certain that I'm gonna be calling a lawyer for them once I get out of here."

"Good, good...As for myself, I can't really stand people like that." Her tone became more serious and her voice became a little deeper. "I mean, why do they think they can go about trying to create a supposed 'cure-all' while leaving a wake of death where ever they go? Why do they enjoy hurting many others only to profit for themselves? Why can't they all just _die?_- Ah!" By now, she had tried to claw into the wood, but the sudden pain of her nails bending stopped her. Clearing her throat, she finished up while walking towards the door. "Yes, well anyways...You should be cleared to leave in about a week. Make sure to eat and sleep well to recover better. Maybe later on you can ask the nurses to take you out on a walk if you wanna get fresh air that badly?"

Elisabeth was just about to pass the threshold when Sasha called out for her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on! What was that freaky, bipolar Jekyll-and-Hyde shit you just pulled off? I could see that!"

Unfortunately, the surgeon gave her a quizzing look and said "I have no idea what you're talking about." Seeing her mystified expression, she said "Listen, don't beat yourself up about this. I'm sure that you'll make a great doctor someday. Who knows? Play your cards right and you might end up here one day." She left for the Chief's office to report on her visit and to ask for an early leave.

* * *

Turns out that the Chief didn't mind. She said that as long as everything was over with, she could go. However, she also said that after her operation tomorrow, she would be given a few days of leave to get a drivers license. "Just as long as you don't end up getting late once you're back." she said. So now Lisbeth had called Jacqueline to pick her up and drive her back home. She was waiting for her from the safety of the courtyard when she heard the familiar voice of her friend

"Yo Lis!"

"Hey I'm coming no – Oh my goodness..." Once Lisbeth had run out and caught sight of her friend's car, she stopped to take a nice good look at it, absolutely stunned by it's appearance. To anyone else, it was just a white sportscar, but to Lisbeth, it was one of the most beautiful vehicles out there. It looked so sleek and streamlined that she was scared to even touch it. There was not a speck of dirt, grime, or rust marring the paint. Even the inside of the wheels had a nice white border on the inside.

Chuckling at her, the courier broke her moments of worship. "She's a beauty ain't she? Took care of her long before my Nightwolf came around. Then I had to give up drifting on the curb for dipping onto the asphalt. She's yours now."

"Not just yet." Lisbeth said as she got inside. "I've gotta actually get my drivers license, y'know just so I don't end up nearly getting fired like today."

"Of course, of course." Jacqueline had just turned on the ignition and jetted out of her parking space. "I'm not gonna keep changing sides for you for the rest of my life." She was blissfully unaware of how her friend hinted at her irresponsibility. "You're at the edge of the city right?"

"Yeah, the tall beige building. Right on the end of Filby Street." Lisbeth wasn't complaining about her abode. Sure, it had a miniscule bathroom. Sure, what was supposed to be the living room was mashed together with a poor, worn out counter that was supposed to be a dining area. Sure, she only had a fridge, an oven, and only one cabinet. She wasn't complaining, just as long as she had someplace to live.

"So...You wanna cinch your big city dream by bagging a guy I can set you up with from work?" Jacqueline asked out of the blue.

Surprised, Lisbeth refused. "I don't know where you got the notion that I need a man, let alone where you got the notion that I had some sort of 'big city dream', but I don't need anyone right now."

"You sure?" They had just made it to the edge of the Metropolitan District. "He's tall, smart, and a bookworm, just your type!"

"Trust me, I've had my fair share of men and I plan on keeping it down for many months." She lied, blatantly wanting to kill this subject.

"Okay, just saying...Whoa, your dinosaur of a building's famous!" Jacqueline suddenly exclaimed.

"What do you even – Oh, I think I get it now."

Just as they had rounded the corner, they could see that a few police cars had parked in front of her building. Two officers were outside next to their cars, writing in notepads. A group of flashes were seen, showing that not only was there a group of journalists around, but that this must be serious.

Laughing nervously, Lisbeth said "You know what? I'll just walk home from here. Don't want the sudden car appearance make a scene of anything."

"Heh, I don't blame you. Finding parking in a situation like this is killer!" She joked, getting a laugh out of herself but leaving her friend in the dark.

"Yeah. Sure. Just come pick me up tomorrow and find out about a good driving school around here, alright?" Lisbeth asked.

"Sure, sure pal. Catch you later!" She yelled as she drove off.

Lisbeth speed-walked down the street and went by the officers and the paparazzi unnoticed. She went up the long, spindly flight of stairs as fast as her shoes would let her. Finally, she got up to her floor and finally saw what the commotion was about: A group of officers along with a blonde in a oddly coordinating purple suit were surrounded around the apartment door of the college grad. _Don't spot me..._she thought as she began to quietly step towards her door. _Go on, step, step, step, step __**wider**__... _

"Excuse me miss!" A man called.

_...So close._ She inwardly apologized to herself and turned around to find the blonde man looking right at her. "Do you need anything sir?" She asked.

"If my guess is right, then yes. Do you live in this apartment miss?" His eyes were apprehensive, as if scanning her for some sort of fact.

"Of course, I just moved in here last night. Why do you need to know?"

"Because you might be able to give us some clues. I'm Agent Navel from the FBI. I'm here to assist in the investigation of the murders of Vincent Burroughs, Tobias Newton, and Johnathan Augustus. Can you give us the details of what happened last night?"


End file.
